Category: Music

Funeral For A Friend Announce Gig @ the ‘Old Blue Last’

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 28, 2008

Welsh Rockers Funeral For A Friend have teamed up with Atticus Clothing on a special one off co-branded polo. To celebrate its launch the band will be performing a one off show at the Old Blue Last on the 1st of October in what will be the 5th of the Atticus DIY series.

Gig entry is free but here’s the catch – invites will only be sent to the bands MySpace, Facebook and Bebo friends and posted on the bands iLike page later this week.

We will randomly select 70 replies across the board from those who get their replies in first (or in the case of iLike who post on the fan wall) and those lucky people will have their names added to the guest list on the door. There will be no +1s, so one entry per person. If you want to be in with a chance of getting into this ace gig make sure you’re a member of one or all of the above official groups/pages and watch out for an announcement in the coming days.

The band release ‘Memory And Humanity’, their eagerly anticipated fourth album, on Oct 13 2008 via their own label, Join Us Records. It will be preceded by the ‘Kicking And Screaming’ single on Sept 29.

Catch them live at one of the following:

Fri 10 Oct Isle Of Man Villa Marina

Sun 12 Oct Liverpool Barfly

Tue 14 Oct Dublin Academy

Wed 15 Oct Belfast Spring & Airbrake

Thu 16 Oct Inverness Ironworks

Sat 18 Oct Glasgow ABC

Sun 19 Oct Leeds Metropolitan University

Mon 20 Oct- Blue Banana, Hull, 5.30-6.30pm *FFAF signing only*

Mon 20 Oct Hull University

Wed 22 Oct Preston 53 Degrees

Thu 23 Oct Whitehaven Civic Hall

Fri 24 Oct Manchester Academy 2

Sun 26 Oct Birmingham Academy

Mon 27 Oct Coventry Kasbah

Tue 28 Oct Nottingham Rock City

Thu 30 Oct Exeter Lemon Grove

Fri 31 Oct- Dress Code, Portsmouth, 5.30-6.30pm *FFAF signing only*

Fri 31 Oct Portsmouth Pyramid

Sat 01 Nov- Tiger Lily, Oxford, 5.30-6.30pm *FFAF signing only*

Sat 01 Nov Oxford Academy

Mon 03 Nov- Rock Collection, Norwich, 5.30-6.30pm *FFAF signing only*

Mon 03 Nov Norwich Waterfront

Tue 04 Nov London Forum

Tue 09 Dec Tenby De Valence Pavilion

Wed 10 Dec Swansea Sin City

Fri 12 Dec Cardiff University

Sat 13 Dec Wrexham Central Station

Sun 14 Dec Aberyswyth Arts Centre

Music News

The Bronx announce Short UK Tour

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 28, 2008

The mighty L.A. based 5 piece, The Bronx, have announced details of a trio of UK dates in October where they will preview tracks from their forthcoming third album, The Bronx set for release soon.

The full list of dates in October 08:

27th- King’s College, London
28th – Club Academy, Manchester
29th – ABC 2, Glasgow

Music News

Prodigy ready for new album

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 28, 2008

The Prodigy are set to return with a brand new record in Feb 2009. Sources close to the band have mentioned that this album has taken years to perfect but Liam Howlett and co are ready to unleash the beast that they are now happy with. Watch the Girls video below and start dreaming of the return of Britain’s prize assets.

Music News

Sway Free download

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 25, 2008

As a thank you to fans and followers for their on going support and patience Sway offers up The Signature LP Mixtape.

This riotous collection of exclusive tracks, radio clips, skits, freestyles and bootlegs once again demonstrates the North London rapper and producer’s razor-sharp skills and creativity.

The free download mixtape is available for a limited 2 week period from here.

Interviews

Innerpartysystem video feature 1

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 25, 2008

Pennsylvania’s Innerpartysystem have been crafting some rather shocking music videos and clips over the course of their last two singles ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Die Tonight, Live Forever‘.

Playing with imagery and containing some rather intense sequences, the video for ‘Die Tonight, Live Forever’ is a must-see. What follows this video is the band’s top picks of some of the more ‘controversial’ videos out there.

Die Tonight, Live Forever – innerpartysystem

“Crossfire have asked us to make a list of our all time top 5 ‘controversial’ or ‘banned’ music videos. We’re huge fans of videos, film, etc. and very quickly realized we couldn’t cram it all in to 5. So, here’s a quick top 10 – Jared Piccone – drums, backing vocals.

1. Chris Cunningham- EVERYTHING – I think it’s no secret that we celebrate Chris Cunningham’s entire catalog of videos, commercials, and short films. From the grained out UFO footage in his Autechre video, to the Aphex Twin videos, the crazy Playstation ad with the alien, Rubber Johnny, through Sheena is a Parasite. His videos are all amazing, and stand as the video mark that we aspire to. Not that they’ve all been banned, but they’re all worth mentioning. If we’re talking about his videos that have been ‘banned’ or ‘censored’ Windowlicker would have to be our top pick. The dialogue in the beginning is brilliant.

2. Prodigy- Smack My Bitch Up (Director: Jonas Akerlund) – At the #1 on every list of Banned videos is always Smack My Bitch Up. It’s the ultimate in pushing a night out too far. Plus the track still slams. The twist at the end makes it a classic. It’s no secret that this was a huge influence on the ‘Die Tonight, Live Forever’ video.

3. NIN- Closer (Director: Mark Romanek) – CLASSIC AND AMAZING, enough said. – despite being ‘controversial’ it was still a massive hit. Again, these are the types videos that we look up to and aspire to create, we just hope by the time we get there, stations in America will still show music videos on television. It almost seems a shame to try and create something this beautiful only to have it live in a youtube box.

4. U.N.K.L.E. and Thom Yorke- Rabbit In Your Headlights (Director: Jonathan Glazer) – It’s impossible to watch this video and not get chills at the end. It’s brilliant. It got banned from stations but honestly there’s no reason why. It’s not nearly as well known, but for us this video is right up there with Smack My Bitch Up and Closer as one of the best ‘controversial’ videos, with amazing production and direction.

5. EBN – Emergency Broadcast Network (www.joshualpearson.com/) – EBN was an artist collective in the 90’s that made these amazing videos out of real TV footage. When we were brainstorming ideas for the “Don’t Stop” video, a good friend turned us on to EBN, and we became obsessed with their clips on youtube. It really became a huge influence on how the end product of ‘Don’t Stop’ turned out and the editing style of a lot of our video clips. Once Don’t Stop came out, we linked up with Greg Decampo, who used to be part of EBN. He’s working with a video DJ collective called Eclectic Method who created an amazing video remix of “Don’t Stop,” that mashes in real media clips, old and new, with the stems from the track. We’ve been slipping out a few bootleg DVD’s of it here and there at shows. They did an awesome job on it. I can’t imagine how many hours they spent manipulating the footage.

6. Madonna- Justify My Love – No list of controversial videos is complete without mentioning Justify my Love. In my mind I feel like it’s the first big ‘banned’ video I can recall, but I may have just watched one too many VH1 specials. I remember seeing it on VHS as a kid. I don’t think there’s been another video that became such a big deal that it got banned. The funny thing is, in hindsight, it’s really not as controversial as the media made it seem. Maybe that means that we as a society have made some progress…or maybe it just means that hip hop and pop videos have become so sexual that by today’s standards this seems edgy, but not totally shocking.

7. NIN- Early Videos: Help Me I Am In Hell, Happiness In Slavery, Pinion – We had no idea that Nine Inch Nails made these videos until the golden age of YouTube. I’m not even sure how they were originally released, but the fact that they put this kind of production video into videos that are completely fucked is awesome. Pinion is such a simple, pointed statement that you once you see it you will always remember it. Help Me I Am In Hell is just painfully unnerving, and if Happiness In Slavery doesn’t turn your stomach you’re definitely missing a few screws. We tried to stay away from “shock for shock’s sake” videos on this list (sorry Cradle of Filth and GG) but Happiness In Slavery will really mess your headspace up for the rest of the day.

8. Sigur Ros- Untitled #1 (Vaka)- While Glosoli might just be one of our favorite videos of all time, our ‘controversial’ video list would not be complete without Flora Sigismondi’s beautiful video for Untitled #1. It gives me massive goosebumps every time I see it; not just ‘woah that’s good’ goosebumps, but those fucking huge, all over your body crazy goosebumps. Not to mention, as studio rats, Sigur Ros is amazing. We’re huge fans. The imagery of the kids playing in the ash with gasmasks, and making the black snowman, always blows my mind.

9. Bonnie Prince Billy- I Gave You– This one might seem like a curveball for us as a band, but being a group that makes a lot of low/ no budget video content with big production aspirations, the simplicity of this one shot video, and the way it connects with the track emotionally always blows my mind. It’s beautiful. Ever since I saw it online it always stuck with me as one of my favorite, emotionally heavy, simple one shot videos.

10. Rammstein- Amerika – I’m not sure this video got ‘banned’ but I sure never saw it on American MTV. I think we as a group have always had this closet fascination with Rammstein. We aren’t huge fans of everything they’ve ever done, but ever since we were teenagers every couple of years they’ll come out with the craziest videos and we have a huge amount of respect for the scope of their live shows, if for nothing else then the amount of pyro they continue to use, despite a serious crackdown in pyrotechnic regulations over the past couple of years. This video isn’t really their most offensive, or even the biggest production value, but it was just really well done. A much needed statement delivered with poignant timing, if for no other reason than to get people talking and thinking.

And so there’s our top ten. Even as I’m writing this I’m thinking of other videos and other artists that should be on here. Fuck, I guess I’d make a terrible music journalist, I’d want to put everyone in the top 10. I’ll cut myself off here. If you haven’t seen these, We hope you enjoy them, and if you have seen them, we hope you enjoy them again”. – Innerpartysystem.

Innerpartsystem’s self-titled debut album is released via Island/Fallout Records on 29th September.

Music News

DJ AM and Travis Barker video preview

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 25, 2008

DJ AM and Travis Barker have released a video to advertise their Fix Your Face mixtape.

Though both were badly injured in the recent plane crash, they are expected to make full recoveries. Check the video and download the mix by clicking the link below:

Fix Your Face

http://trvsdjam.com

Music News

Russian Circles announce dates

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 24, 2008

Chicago’s Russian Circles had one hell of a busy 2008, which included the release of their critically acclaimed new album, “Station” (Suicide Squeeze), touring non-stop with the likes of Daughters and Coheed and Cambria.

They are currently embarking on a massive European tour with friends and label-mates,These Arms Are Snakes.

Rounding out a fantastic year, Russian Circles have announced they plan to spend their holiday and New Year’s festivities on the road with alternative rock legends, CLUTCH! That’s right, one of the genre’s heaviest and most respected bands, Clutch, have hand-picked Russian Circles to join them on their brief romp around the East Coast and Mid-West. This is sure to make some heads explode.

Russian Circles European Dates:

October 15 Tilburg, Holland 013 Popcentrum

October 17 Braunschweig, Germany Nexus

October 18 Frankfurt, Germany Elfer

October 19 St. Petersburg, Russia Art Galley Loft Project * no TAAS on this show

October 22 Moscow, Russia Aktoviy Zal

October 24 Berlin, Germany Magnet

October 25 Leipzig, Germany Zoro

October 26 Prague, Czech Club 007

October 27 Budapest, Hungary Kaplung

October 28 Vienna, Austria Arena Vienna

October 29 Zurich, Switzerland Abart

October 30 Bologna, Italy Sotto Tetto

October 31 Montpellier, France Mojomatic

November 1 Barcelona, Spain Apollo 2

November 3 Madrid, Spain Wurlitzer Ballroom

November 4 Lisbon, Portugal Galeria Ze Des Bois

November 5 Porto, Portugal Porto Rio

November 6 Barakaldo, SPA Edaska Rock Club

November 8 Lyon, France Grrrnd Zero

November 9 Lausanne, Switzerland Le Romandie

November 10 Paris, France Mains D‚oeuvre

November 11 Esch-Alzette, Luxemborg Rokhal

November 12 Gent, Belgium Charlatan

November 13 Leuven, Belgium Stuk

November 14 Brighton, UK Engine Room

November 15 Exeter, UK Cavern Club

November 16 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club

November 17 Glasgow, UK Stereo

November 18 Belfast, Ireland Black Box

November 19 Dublin, Ireland Whelans

November 20 Manchester, UK Star And Garter

November 21 Nottingham, UK Rock City

November 22 London, UK Islington Academy

USA w/ Clutch!

Dec 27 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, New Jersey

Dec 28 Webster Theater – Hartford, Connecticut

Dec 29 930 Club – Washington DC

Dec 30 Newport Music Hall – Columbus, Ohio

Dec 31 Orbit Room – Grand Rapids, Michigan

Music News

The Faint UK tour dates announced

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 24, 2008

Omaha quintet, The Faint, are back with their first album in four years. ‘Fasciinatiion’, The Faint’s fifth album, is the first in the band’s ten-year history to be written, recorded, produced, and released entirely on their own, and is released on World’s Fair/Co Operative Music this week.

Fasciination is an album that draws on many defining facets of The Faint’s sound, while remaining completely different from anything else they’ve put out. Todd’s voice sounds less human than ever before; the bass lines are more mangled, keyboards spiral and squeal out of control; electronic pings and stabs invade the melodies; the lyrical anxiety and disdain of previous albums pervades almost every song.

The band tour the UK in November…

November
17 – Crawdaddy, Dublin
18 – Oran Mor, Glasgow
19 – Academy 3, Manchester
20 – Scala, London
21 – Brighton Digital, Brighton

Live Reviews

Atlas Sound – Live

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 19, 2008

The Sazerac, London
17.09.08

Someone once said that the distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. Who said it is irrelevant, but it’s an interesting point – how much irrational, ridiculous and generally socially unacceptable behavior can be justified by true talent? Throughout history, many of the most famously productive and creative minds have been riddled with mental illness and social problems, but should we really be applauding people who wear their flaws so unashamedly?

Wednesday night in a function room over a fashionable bar in central London; necks crane and people shift around increasingly irritably, trying to catch a glimpse of the man they’ve paid a precious credit-crunched £8 to see. Bradford Cox, AKA Atlas Sound, is sitting contentedly cross-legged onstage, wrapped up in his own world and apparently oblivious to the fact that, in ensuring his own comfort, he is cutting off the vast majority of his audience.

As he sinks into a set of beautifully melancholic iridescent pop, more and more people tut dejectedly and make for the exit. Glorious ambient hazes and purring beats drench those persistent enough, but moody and swelling though the sounds emitting from the stage are, they cannot excuse a man so wrapped up in himself that he seems to have completely forgotten that one of his main obligations in a live show is to actually be seen.

An hour into his set and Cox awakens from his inward spiral of noise, his attention caught by an audience member at the front wearing a Swans t-shirt. And so, bartering for said t-shirt ensues, at first entertaining, but eventually padded out with endless waffle, it becomes uncomfortably dull. Where most front men should know their time to speak is over and move onto the next song, Cox seems insistent that everything he says, however trivial, is worthy of his audiences time.

It has frequently been reported that Bradford Cox does little to endear himself to fans and journalists alike, instead choosing to brood over his own depression and angst. And yet, discomforting though it may be, it’s most likely precisely that depression and angst that feed Atlas Sound and with his band Deerhunter, making them two of the most exciting musical projects around. And lets face it, with music this good you don’t really need to be able to see anything to enjoy yourself anyway, do you?

Katie Price

Music News

The Paddingtons announce UK tour

Post author By Crossfire
Post date September 18, 2008

The Paddingtons have announced a bumper UK tour to support their new single and album.

The single What’s The Point Of Anything New will be released on October 27th and will be followed on November 3rd by the album No Mundane Options. The tour dates are:

September

24th – Barfly, Camden

October

1st – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
2nd – Hub, Exeter
3rd – University Of Luton, Luton
4th – Kasbah, Coventry
6th – Chinnerys, Southend
7th – Sin City, Swansea
8th – Plug & Play, Reading
10th – The Royal, Derby
11th – Plug, Sheffield
13th – Portland Arms, Cambridge
14th – Marquee, Hertford
15th – Roadhouse, Manchester
16th – The Welly Club, Hull
17th – The Guild, Glyndŵr University, Wrexham
18th – The Town Hall, Selby
21st – Bar Academy, Bristol
22nd – Metro Bar, London
24th – University, Newport
25th – Audio, Brighton
27th – Fibbers, York
28th – Zodiac, Oxford
31st – Georgian Theatre, Stockton

November

1st – White Riot @ The Fife Ocean, Fife
2nd – King Tuts, Glasgow
9th – Cockpit, Leeds