Crossfire favourite Kelly Stoltz is headlining an Uncut night.
The magazine is launching a series of monthly gigs in London and the San Francisco native will be hitting the Borderline on February 15th.
The singer will be joined by Jaymay who was described by the magazine as having “a crystal clear warble to match Norah Jones”. Tickets go on sale on January 6th.
Eels are set to release their Best Of compilation this month.
Meet The Eels: Essential Eels Volume 1, 1996-2006 is out on January 21st and covers the band’s first ten years over 24 tracks. The package also comes with a 2CD compilation called ‘Useless Trinkets’ , featuring B-sides, soundtrack material, rarities and unreleased material, as well as a DVD collection of the band’s videos. The tracklisting is:
‘Novocaine For The Soul’
‘Susan’s House’
‘My Beloved Monster’
‘Your Lucky Day In Hell’
‘3 Speed’
‘Last Stop: This Town’
‘Climbing To The Moon’ (Jon Brion remix)
‘Flyswatter’
‘I Like Birds’
‘Mr E’s Beautiful Blues’
‘It’s A Motherfucker’
‘Souljacker Part 1’
‘That’s Not Really Funny’
‘Fresh Feeling’
‘Get Ur Freak On’
‘Saturday Morning’
‘Love Of The Loveless’
‘Dirty Girl (Live At Town Hall)’
‘I Need Some Sleep’
‘Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)’
‘I’m Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn’t Break Your Heart’
‘Trouble With Dreams’
‘Railroad Man’
‘Losing Streak’
Amidst the over-produced dross that so often passes for punk rock these days, it’s great to discover a band (better still, a home-grown band) that reminds you just how fucking powerful and life-affirming the genre can be when it’s done properly.
Wakefield quintet Milloy are one such band, and ‘More Than A Machine‘ is their stormer of a debut album. There are no wasted words or notes on offer here; just songs like ‘Hammer & Blades‘ and ‘February‘ that rock out in the vein of Leatherface, Hot Water Music and early Snuff. If you like the sound of gruff Northern vocals, rough-edged melodies and duelling guitars, then Milloy are definitely for you.
Strictly speaking, this is a re-release, which combines the original version of ‘MTAM‘ (on Crackle Records, from 2005) with bonus tracks from the band’s split EP with Billy No Mates. But you probably hadn’t heard it first time around, and this lot deserve all the exposure they can get. Nice one, Household Name. Nice one, Milloy.
Check out ‘Blackjack’ on the link above.
Alex Gosman
Buraka Som Sistema are releasing their track Yah! on January 21st.
The Lisbon-based band who are signed to Modular and have wowed crowds with live shows throughout 2007 have been described as “a mutant African strain of grime” and can count Diplo as a fan. Make sure you buy the single when it drops, it’s a banger.
Mean Fiddler
20.12.07
Judging by the crowd tonight it’s evident that MTB have a loyal following; it’s freezing outside, there are xmas parties a-plenty and last minute shoppers everywhere but these facts aside the venue is bustling in anticipation.
I kicked myself for having missed the first band The New 1920, after finding myself standing next to the hottie that is their singer. Those who were present said they were very good. Having listened to their 2 song CD sampler, I kick myself again as their sound is a catchy mix of heart warming melodies and harmonies. They might not appreciate my comparisons to Saves The Day, but I personally love them and think they’ve got a great thing going on.
The second support “27″, hailing from Massachusetts, were a little more mellow, perhaps slightly better suited to being played on your stereo. Not to berate them in anyway, I am first in line to support the female fronted band, since there will never be enough of them. 27 were nice, relaxing, tight, but not perhaps the best style of music to get a crowd warmed up for a show.
Finally Minus the Bear were up. MTB sound crisp, polished and precise in delivery this evening as their decision to not go all “spinal tap” with amps pays off -less (amps) is more they say! They open with “Knights” from their latest release “Planet of Ice” and have the crowd moving within seconds to the groove-laden samples and beats; this sets the tone for the evening as we are treated to a great deal of the new material as well as the older fan favourites.
The crowd seemed to become restless during “Dr L’Ling” before the brilliant Thin Lizzy-esque dual lead guitar outro kicked in, it sounded perfect and they really seemed to be enjoying that moment too, playing off the crowd’s reaction. It was at this point that I was distracted by the couple right in my eye line, nay right in my face, making out against the wall as if their lives depended on it. It’s been many a year since I’ve been witness to such raw animal lust. MTB must have some subtle undercurrent sexual tones to bring out this side in people. I wasn’t the only witness to this free sex act and people were soon taking bets on the actual sex of this androgenous couple which was a little misleading.
Back to the band! One of the many highlights tonight was “Drilling” which was tight as you could get and the brilliant fans’ favourite “Get Me Naked“, where literally everyone in the room was singing along to the vocal hook “I’ve got to wake up so fucking early” (story of my life!).The other tracks from “Highly Refined Pirates” were also warmly received by the crowd, as we were treated to “Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!” and “Absinthe Party“, the latter being one of my personal favourites.
In a musical world full of bands that preach bullshit onstage or go through the tick-list of what people want to hear (“we love you London, you’re the best crowd” etc…) we see that MTB are not one of these bands at all; Jake Snider may not be the most out-going of front-men but comes across as simultaneously cool, chilled and humble. And whilst they may not be a visual band who throw themselves around the stage (whilst in the moment), you can easily close your eyes and enjoy the show just as much.
Throughout the show there are shouts for “Pachuca Sunrise” which they saved until last and what a great way to end the show, dreamy and intricate with its upbeat and infectious chorus, the crowd were always destined to leave satisfied with this closing.
Brilliant gig, brilliant band, come back soon!
Katya Ozols
Photo taken from www.myspace.com/minusthebear
Atmosphere gave their fans a present over Christmas.
The Minnesotans put an album, Strictly Leakage, up for free download. If you want to grab it, hit the link at the bottom of the page and get ready for some funky, brassy hip hop. Slug of the group said:
“It’s great for first dates, crappy houseparties, or to play in the backround while you google yourself again. Is downloadable a word? What’s a doldrum? Nonetheless, thank you for the love, and please have a happy safe holiday.”
Friendly Fires have announced that they will join this year’s Vice Live Tour, tickets for which will be free.
They will be joined by up-and-coming bands Black Kids and Ipso Facto for a short UK trip.The dates are as follows:
January:
30th – Glasgow ABC2
31st – Manchester Mint Lounge
February:
1st – London 93 Feet East
2nd – Bristol The Fleece
Dexter Holland has spoken about The Offspring‘s new record.
The singer said that most of the music has been laid down and after he’s written two more sets of lyrics and a couple of singing parts have been laid down, it will be ready to mix. He went on to say:
“We haven’t announced a release date yet because we’re just not quite close enough to know when we’ll be finished. We want to thank all our fans who have been so patient, and we want you to know that we’ve been in the studio nearly every day now for quite awhile working hard to make a great record.”
Smashing Pumpkins have released a download only EP.
The band revealed the step in an interview recently saying the EP will contain four tracfks – Sunkissed, Pox, Again, Again, Again and The Rose March. It is out now and can be bought through iTunes, with Billy Corgan saying:
“I had written a bunch of material during the residencies in Asheville and San Francisco, and fans kept asking us if we were gonna put any of that stuff out. iTunes came to us wanting to do something together, so it just felt right.”
Poison The Well have confirmed some UK headline dates.
Check them out in April at:
4th – Liverpool, Barfly
5th – Birmingham, Barfly
6th – Glasgow, Barfly
8th – York, Fibbers
9th – Cambridge, Barfly
10th – Brighton, Barfly
11th – London, Barfly