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Disco 2000 Ode to Jarvis Cocker

mcgoo1 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:31:51 +0000

Rosie: i had pics of Jarvis on my maths books and my teacher told me i couldn't put pics like that on my file
I was well hurt

Jonathan: lol

Rosie: :(
cut them out of smash hits, then moved to south africa from england and that is when my maths teacher said the pics were not nice and not allowed
i mean all he was doing was pouring a box of popcorn on his head
no wonder I ended up in therapy
bitch

Economics? Nah mate, this is rockonomics... 09/10/08

sentric — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:34:39 +0000

It’s been pretty hard to miss talk of the credit crunch these last few weeks and as it continues to worsen it persists on taking up more column inches than the sex lives of the Manchester United squad and Girls Aloud combined.

But is it all doom and gloom?

Well yes, but let us both humour ourselves and take solace in the fact that stereotypically the music and other entertainment industries aren’t usually affected by economic downturns and in the past have even proven to be the fulcrum of some of the most important musical movements of the past century.

In the great depression of the 20s/30s various sources state that the movie industry boomed and arguably could be considered to be one of the contributing factors to Hollywood’s golden era (that and their Fordist approach to movie making).

This rather enjoyable read from Tom Towshend argues that the rather sullen political and economical climate of the late seventies spurred on the onslaught of Punk and everything it stood for.

In the early eighties when unemployment engulfed the country, music was a channel to release the frustration being felt by the country. With UB40’s One In Ten (regarding the then rate of unemployment) echoing the thoughts of a country in dejection and a certain gladioli-swinging bequiffed Northerner caught the eyes and ears of a melancholic youth.

In said article Towshend states “It's often been said that The Smiths couldn’t have come from anywhere but Manchester, but it's also true that they couldn't have come from any other time in British history.” And even allowing for some poetic license, if Britain was as depressing as The Smith’s songs of the era suggest then I can only thank the powers that be that I was in nappies for the majority of the eighties (due to my youth, not my incontinence).

So will the current economic climate spurn another movement of similar or greater magnitude as punk? Or will it be the catalyst for another band as historically important as The Smiths?

I would argue not as I personally don’t believe there will ever be a movement with as much significance as punk, glam, mod, teddy boy etc ever again due to the way we consume our media in this day and age. The choice available for a youth to pigeonhole themselves as is so vast these days that the niche is now the norm.

So how about the music? Is there anyone as capable of encapsulating the feelings of a despondent nation as lovely old Morrissey?

Again, I can’t see where they’d come from (but arguably that’s the beauty of it) and I’d be surprised if in twenty years time we’re talking about someone like Glasvegas in the same way we talk about The Smiths now.

On the flip side of things if you’re an independent/unsigned artist should you be worried that the economy is going to quash any chances you have of getting signed to a big-money deal?

Well yes and no according to the sources you read. According to this report from the Beeb regarding the topics discussed at this year's In The City then record labels are signing far fewer artists than they used to be to help minimise the risk of spending money on drivel and are only going for artists who have seen success on a smaller scale already.

It would appear that labels are far less likely to take a punt on artists these days than they used to do in the not so distant past (bands such as Coldplay and Keane were signed on rather small publishing deals compared to what would be demanded now) but whether or not this is a directly influenced on the current economy is debateable. Maybe labels were just realising they were spending money on tosh? For every Coldplay there were 10 other artists who didn’t recoup so why not just put two healthy bets of £125,000 each on a couple of ‘dead cert’ artists and save £50,000 for your troubles? Not the most entrepreneurial of spirits but frugal nevertheless.

The music industry as a whole shouldn’t feel the crunch too much though if history is anything to go by. Although Joe Public may have significantly less disposable income they’re most likely to cull their trip abroad than they are their cinema visit or purchase of the new Oasis album (over 130,000 shifted already and it’s only Thursday? What credit crunch?!)

Music is an escape. It can sooth a looming overdraft or crippling credit card bill for half an hour and allow you to forget your worries and troubles. No matter how financially screwed you are you’ll always treat yourself to a little somethin’ somethin’. From the student going out for a nice meal to the tramp spending his last pennies on a can of special brew, human nature is inherently too selfish not to look after number one.

All in all I try to live by my humble Sheffield mantra: “It’ll be reet”.

Just a quick note on my In The City shenanigans this year:

I had a disappointingly brief ITC due to me moving flats back in Liverpool but I did manage to catch a few highlights which included Jarvis Cocker presenting a lecture on the importance of song lyrics in music which included a few acoustic performances (cue fantastic rendition of ‘Babies’) and a panel on the concept of free music where the ever knowledgeable Steve Purdham made some rather interesting points.

Artist wise kudos should go to:

Soft Toy Emergency – Liverpool’s self-proclaimed ‘Casio Kittens’ show us what the Ting Tings would be like if they grew a pair of balls. Definitely worth checking out live, even if it’s just for their cracking cover of Justice’s DVNO. Electro.
To The Bone – Bolton’s answer to Queens of the Stone Age. Rock.
Skeletons – Sheffield five piece who are causing a bit of a fuss in the Steel City gave an energetic performance and are the proud owner of a rather cracking front man. Entertaining.
Grammatics – Yes I’m mentioning them again and I shall continue to do so until they stop being so damn good. Refreshing.
Twin Atlantic – on record they sound a bit like Hundred Reasons to me which I assure you isn’t a bad thing (‘Ideas Above Our Station’ was a cracking album!), these guys won’t stay unsigned for long. Scottish.

What I’m listening to this week: all of the above and Eugene McGuiness’s debut album which is rather nifty.

What I’m Reading this week: Bill Bryson’s Mother Tounge.

Stay tuned.

KT honeymoon in remote cottage

laurencrooks — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:07:38 +0000

By Alexander Lawrie

NEWLYWEDS KT Tunstall and her drummer husband Luke Bullen shunned a celebrity-style honeymoon – by renting a small, secluded cottage on Skye for the week.

The Scots-born pop star chose to stay in one of four private cottages in the tiny crofting and fishing village of Elgol.

The rock star couple were recently married at Skye’s Flodigarry Country House Hotel on the north east of the island, and their banns were posted in the island’s capital, Portree.

Owned by locals Andrew and Mary Sim, the four cottages have been in their family for six generations, and are based on the traditional island ‘black house’ or thatched cottage.

KT and Luke hired ‘Tigh Lachie’, the newest of the four cottages, and went totally unnoticed by the other guests during their stay.

The cosy cottage features underfloor heating and oil burning stoves, while a traditional veiled box bed added a further touch of romance to the already beautiful surroundings.

The view from the jetty at the bottom of the village, looking across Loch Scavaig into Loch Coruisk and the magnificent Cuillin Hills mountain range, is arguably one of the finest in the country.

After a wonderful week’s stay, kind-hearted KT left a thank you note for owners Andrew and Mary.

She wrote: “Skye is my favourite place in the world, and Elgol is my favourite place on Skye. Staying at Mary’s Cottages and meeting Mary & Drew enriched the experience all the more. All the best, KT.”

Mary and Andrew decided to keep the couple’s location secret throughout the course of their stay, but couldn’t wait to share the news once they said their goodbyes to the couple.

Mary said: “We feel very privileged that KT and Luke chose Mary’s Cottages as the place they wanted to spend the beginning of their honeymoon.

“We also very much appreciate the support they have shown to the island, as by choosing Skye as their wedding venue they will encourage many more visitors to come and enjoy the island’s unrivalled scenery, attractions and hospitality.”

“The cottages really are the perfect romantic getaway, and we very much enjoyed having them with us.”

The 33-year-old singer-songwriter has also just announced she is to take part in an expedition to the world’s biggest glacier as part of an initiative to highlight climate change.

Also aboard the research vessel Grogory Mikhev will be Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and comedian Marcus Brigstocke.

The ship will travel along the west coast of Greenland to Disko Bay, then sail on to the Jakobshavn Glacier which is estimated to be losing 20 million tonnes of ice each day.

An epic fail tale

Joe — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:00:48 +0000

Because I've just been enraged by a one-two punch of bastards downstairs making noise at 11pm last night and the cat shitting everywhere again, I need to take my mind off things before I combine the two problems and chuck Willow at some loud bastards. So, here is a story that my brother and my cousin are both party to, and is completely insane on many many levels. I've not got the permission of either of them, but I'm sure they couldn't care less because they're both still in shock. This is a story about how my grandfather, who I previously had a decent bit of respect for, pissed everyone off. It's also funny, and has a reference to Wham.

Scroll back a few months. My brother, who looks like Jarvis Cocker (this isn't important for the story, but is used so you can build up a mental image) was invited on holiday by my/his aunt and cousin to their place in the south of France. Very nice, obviously. He was also kind enough to bring along my grandfather, who's disabled and can't get around easily, which complicated matters. So the plan was, Jarvis would take the train down to Truro, stay the night with gramps, take a coach to Dover the next day and from there get another coach on a ferry to Calais, where they would then take another coach to the south of France, where they would then get a bus to the final destination. And on the way back, following much the same route in reverse, they'd bring cousin (who looks like a female Kurt Cobain, only without the large gunshot wound) back so she could go to uni.

If you think this state of affairs is needlessly complex and would take a long time, then you're entirely correct. After all, we're 20 miles outside London, gramps is 400 miles away. Surely it would make more sense for Jarvis to meet Gramps at Paddington station, then get the Tube to St Pancras to get a Eurostar to France and then get a TGV to the south of France? Or even better, fucking fly there? Well, yes, it would. But gramps insisted on travelling about a thousand miles by coach. He's either been given the wrong impression by the Divine Comedy's clapalong funburst National Express, of coaches being fun and comfortable ways to undertake long distance journeys, or he's a masochist. As it turned out, there's a third option which explains it away and happily combines both of the other two options; absolute fucking lunacy.

The whole thing went to plan, originally. Jarvis got the train down to Cornwall, all was swimming. Right up until Dover, where gramps decided he didn't in fact want to go to France after all and refused to get off the coach. This was a delightful foreshadowing of things to come, as a refusal to do basic tasks that will at the very least allow other peoples' plans to work out is a recurring motif of this story.

Then, after managing to coax him onto the ferry, Jarvis was unhappy to discover that he didn't want to leave the coach. So Jarvis, the poor fucker, had to stay with him. Really, if I was in his shoes, I'd have left him there. Lots to do on cruise liners! But no, stoic little sod he is, Jarvis stayed with him. Why, I will never know. I'm guessing some underlying sense of common decency, but even common decency has a breaking point where you think "Fuck this. I've been sitting on a coach for hours with this fruit, and he's making my life hell, I'm going to go play pachinko in the boat's arcade." The only other explanation I can think of is that he's actually the reincarnation of Jesus Christ the saviour, and thus has infinite patience as well as the ability to cure ailments, although his unwillingness to use the latter ability throws this (admittedly fairly shaky to begin with) premise into doubt.

So, after a boat ride on a coach in the dark, the time came to disembark onto the next coach. Which gramps refused to board, again. Eventually, again, he was coaxed on, and the next part of the journey continued apace.

This is where shit gets fucked up.

On the last journey, gramps remarked that he hadn't taken his medication. He usually has no problem taking said medications while by himself, but had suddenly lost that ability when next to another person whose apparent job was to baby a whinging geriatric while attempting to enjoy a holiday. At the last stop before the destination, gramps was dumped in a bar, where he began waving at passers by while Jarvis phoned up relatives frantically asking what the fuck he was supposed to do. He couldn't abandon things at this point, but at the same time if he continued, he'd have to deal with the manchild some more. Showing the patience and resolve of a million saints, he pressed on.

At this point, my grandfather, who can usually talk intelligently on many subjects and is decent conversation, turned into Howard Hughes. He went batshit, fruit loopy, mad, schizo, psychotic, bonkers. It sounds funny when read to you over the phone, but up close and personal it must be fucking terrifying. He forced Jarvis to watch Notting Hill twice a day, when once a lifetime is enough to turn many people into raging schizoid fucknuts. He attempted to persuade my aunt, who's selling a house in France, to let him live in said house at £1000 a month, when his income is roughly half that. At the same time, he attempted to persuade Jarvis to come and live with him as a carer - probably an unwise choice, as despite the fact that blood is thicker than water and all that, he'd wind up poisoned. Finally, as a crowning example of his total insanity, and proof positive that despite all my whinging and whining I'm not that bad really, he began walking around with Tropicana bottles of his own urine (leading to an unforgettable number of renditions of Club Tropicana ("...drinks are free/fun and sunshine/there's enough for everyone!" - apparently there was, a whole bottle's worth) and complaining that the FBI was bugging him.

It's so comforting knowing my family tree contains such a delight.

But anyway, the holiday was over, and the coach home was equally as fun. He still had his bottle of Tropicana filled with piss, but now he had an equally powerful weapon to hand; HIS SMOOTH TALKING SEDUCTION POWERS. And by that I mean trying to force a German woman to take a slip of paper containing his name and address while her husband looked on helplessly. I know it contained his name and address, because that's what Jarvis said it had on it, at least during the brief look he had before gramps karate-chopped him in the face, turned to Kurtette and explain that "It's not every day I get to go courting."

Speaking as someone single and hating it, always hating it, spending my nights alone despite every effort to the contrary, maybe I've missed a trick. Maybe instead of this whole "being nice to people", "caring about what people have to say" and "trying not to be a cunt" thing (my ex's head just exploded on reading that sentence, just because she's never fucking seen any of that from me before), I should have chosen a better tactic to find someone to love - carry around a fruit juice bottle full of wizz, force them to take my number and then smack a relative in the face. It might not go down well in the Misty Moon, but I'm willing to bet it'll work better than the bullshit I'm currently doing (I'm right now at the stage of "PLEASE FUCKING GOD HELP ME!!! SOMEONE JUST FUCKING SHOW SOME INTEREST ALREADY!!!!", which is probably soon to be followed by gibbering insanity mixed with intolerably frank requests for sexual intercourse aimed at absolutely everyone.)

By this point, Kurtette and Jarvis had had more than enough. They were pissed. So, as the icing on the cake, as the bus arrived in Truro, gramps started waving his walking stick around and claiming they were both trying to kill him. Speaking as someone whose tolerance for gibbering fuckwits is moderate at best, I would have gone past "trying" approximately three days prior and proceeded with relentless urgency towards ensnaring him in a torture dungeon filled with venomous spiders made of broken glass and dirty needles. I'm guessing that Kurtette and Jarvis had somehow found a way to blot out the horrific dignitycide appearing not a couple of layers above them in their family trees, and still somewhat surprised that they hadn't just flipped, hijacked the bus and driven it into a building at full speed.

Kurtette was apparently a gibbering wreck, and I can't say I blame her. Jarvis now apparently loves Notting Hill now, which I can now using a knowledge of mental illnesses gleaned entirely from Wikipedia state is some form of Stockholm syndrome. Gramps has probably shit himself more than once over the past few days, and after pissing off even people who have only heard of his antics I'm not sure anybody really cares. I know he's family, I know you should support family, but frankly if nothing else, making someone watch Notting Hill is just inexcusable.

reading watching listening

flotationdevice — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:11:28 +0000

let's do it!

reading

el reino de este mundo by alejo carpentier. i am on a mission to read more books in spanish by people who wrote in spanish. this is the first of a new bunch group of authors for me to try. so far so good. i don't always get all the vocab, but i get enough out of it that i can see it in my mind. which is good. and i can tell you what it's about. haiti and revolution back in the 19th century. this is the guy who coined the term "magical realism" or in spanish "lo real maravilloso."

lee miller's war edited by antony penrose. lee miller pretty much rules. awesome photographer and apparently a solid writer. this is a collection of her war correspondence from world war 2 when she was writing for vogue and a couple other magazines it seems like. she was travelling with the army as it made its way across france and into germany. writing and taking pictures as she went. it's a little rough to read her german hate, but she lived through the blitz. i'd prolly not be stoked on germans at the time either.

when baghdad ruled the muslim world: the rise and fall of islam's greatest dynasty by hugh kennedy. the title pretty much says it all. about the abbasids reign of a few hundred years. started out solid, but i'm kinda bored with it at this point. i think i'm not gonna finish it. i'm not sure where it goes wrong. the info is good. i think part of the problem must be the writing style. and there's nothing really wrong with it, but i thin it doesn't grab me. but points for modernizing the translation of historical texts so that i know that in some cases what they really meant was "motherfucker" or "shit."

roxy music: both ends burning by jonathan rigby. roxy music biography! what? fucking awesome!!! unfortunately not so awesome. i had to stop around country living. too bad. there's some good info, but not enough. and it's just kinda dull. the eno parts are all good. but there's way too much focus on ferry. not enough on the rest of the band. and come on, brian ferry is no lyrical genius. nor an awesome songwriter. so what the fuck. if it weren't for the rest of the band, they wouldn't've been awesome. oh well.

watching

taste of tea by katsuhito ishii. this movie ruled. calm. beautiful. righteous. totally made me feel good. watch it.

spring, summer, fall, winter and spring by kim ki-duk. also calm. also beautiful. also made me feel good. couldn't figure out why. but it did.

pan's labyrinth by guillermo del toro. amazing. gorgeous. totally brutal. never want to see it again. i said that the first time i saw it, but i watched it again with h who hadn't seen it yet.

the dark knight by christopher nolan. yay batman! solid solid.

space is the place by john coney. but come on it's all about fucking sun ra! this movie might be one of the dumbest thing i've ever seen. but it's awesome in its ridiculousness. and its fucking sun ra! although the best part was the ten minutes of sun ra and arkestra walking around in egypt set to the song watusi. that ruled! hooray!

listening

the ex and getachew mekuria at the logan square auditorium and at pritzker pavilion. these two shows totally blew me away and made me feel awesome. so did...

phil cohran at the pritzker pavilion doing a tribute to sun ra. although it was more of a tribute to phil cohran. but it was truly truly amazing. got choked up a couple of times i did.

jarvis cocker at the dumbass pitchfork music festival. we went to pitchfork and all we saw was jarvis. we spent 30 dollars a piece to see him. and boy was he worth it. lots of man love for that guy. from the dudes a few yards away from us. i expected underwear and glasses to be thrown on stage in uncontrolled outbursts of nerd love. we were pretty close and pretty much in swoon the whole time. hopefully he'll come back when his new album comes out next year.

piss piss piss moan moan moan at enemy. alex (of the rories, the band i'm in) and nicole play some amazing noise drone electronics. this was a righteous show. i'm usually not a fan of total noise, but i guess this wasn't total noise. is it power electronics? who knows. but it was loud. and it was good.

all the new jazz records we got on our trip to san francisco. i can't really pick just one. but just for the sake of it i'll say arthur doyle and sunny murray live at the glen miller cafe. hooray!

What's 85bn dollars anyway?

Eoin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:19:01 +0000

The Guardian has an interesting piece in this morning's edition about how 'opponents of capitalism' are reacting to the current wobbles in 'confidence'. That is: they rang up a bunch of their regular contributors and asked them to put together 100 words on how they think the Guardian readership should talk over their coffee at 11am.

One contribution in particular from none other than Jarvis Cocker reminds us that

I mean, you see the FTSE index, or whatever, running along the bottom of the TV screen and generally it just doesn't impinge at all on the way you live your life, and then suddenly you're told your life is going to take a nosedive. Who understands that?

In the coverage we are getting on TV and in the online and printed press, all is lost in a fog of percentage points and billions. At the end of the news on RTE when the day's trading is read out and the ISEQ is seen to be 5 points down or plunging on the foot of CRH losses, what does that in reality mean?

Photo owned by aikijuanma (cc)
If Lehmann Brothers (who I had not heard about at all until last week - I thought those soap powder vendors were bringing back an old campaign) go bust and lose 700 million dollars or 70 billion dollars, what does that mean to a Dunnes till operator or a civil servant?

Indices flashing across the screen telling me that the S&P is up, up, up! are rarified numbers that read like the fiduciary Monkeysphere. I've still got almost two weeks to my pay day and I have an A&E bill to pay.

Glory Days

Martin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:39:36 +0000

Oh my face is unappealing
And my thoughts are unoriginal
I did experiments with substances
But all it did was make me ill
And I used to do the I Ching
But then I had to feed the meter
Now I can't see into the future
But at least I can use the heater

Oh and I could be a genius
If I just put my mind to it
And I, I could do anything
If only I could get round to it
Oh we were brought up on the Space Race
Now they expect you to clean toilets
When you've seen how big the world is
How can you make do with this?

Jarvis Cocker, Glory Days, 1998

trouser press: anaïs mitchell, heather nova and more

Wears The Trousers magazine — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:59:55 +0000

in today's trouser press:

- limited edition EP from Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Ries now available
- Heather Nova surprises fans with announcement of new album
- Marianne Faithfull duets with Chan Marshall, Rufus Wainwright and more
- Jane Birkin to release new album in November
- Charlotte Martin to release new EP in November
- Courtney Love sticks her boot into the VMAs
- Kaki King collaborates with The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle
- Free Raveonettes remix EP up for grabs; three more EPs on their way
- Sky Larkin sign to Wichita Recordings
- Pioneer composer/producer Hector Zazou dies

* * *

Here's something we've been meaning to tell you. The wonderful Anaïs Mitchell has a new EP out. A country EP, called country e.p., recorded with her friend and frequent touring partner Rachel Ries. The five songs - two Anaïs originals, two Rachel originals, and a cover of their friend Louis Ledford's ‘When You Fall' - were recorded earlier this year using vintage studio equipment and released last week on Righteous Babe Records. Don't go expecting Jewel-style schmaltz though. "These [songs] are a bit more sly, not quite as straightforward as most country," says Rachel. But don't just take her word for it, two tracks have been uploaded to Anaïs's Myspace.

If you order the five-track CD, you get a bonus 7" vinyl containing three of the songs. A bit strange, you might think, but that's how they wanted it. "We knew it wasn't the most rational or efficient way to put the recording out there," says Rachel, "but we both felt there was something worthwhile about the tactile quality of vinyl and lacquer." Adds Anaïs, "Beauty is inefficient."

Anaïs comes to London with label boss Ani DiFranco and fellow RBR artist Hamell On Trial on October 29th at The Forum in Kentish Town. You should be able to get the EP on the merch desk.

country e.p.
01 o my star!
02 mgd
03 come september
04 grace the day
05 when you fall

bonus 7"
01 o my star!
02 mgd
03 when you fall

* * *

More surprise album news, this time from Heather Nova. The Bermudan singer-songwriter was widely rumoured to be planning a greatest hits collection for her next release but has now confirmed she will issue a brand new album instead. And fans won't have to wait long for it either; The Jasmine Flower, her seventh studio album, is out on October 10th, three days before her new European tour kicks off at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London.

Writing on her Myspace blog, Heather revealed that the album is her "most stark record to date", recorded with just her and her guitar, with a string quartet providing some tasteful overdubs. The album was recorded and mixed on her solar-powered laptop - really! - after her home studio broke. "That's all you need to make a great sounding album. Sun and songs," she writes, adding "I think the songs must be good, because most of them make me feel pretty uncomfortable, which is a sign that I have plumbed the depths and dug for truth, no matter how unsettling."

The Jasmine Flower
01 Ride
02 Beautiful Storm
03 Maybe Tomorrow
04 Out On A Limb
05 Every Soldier Is A Mother's Son
06 Out In New Mexico
07 Looking For The Light
08 Hollow
09 If I Should Die
10 Say Something
11 Follow Me In Grace

The album will be packaged along with a previously unavailable live disc recorded on her last tour.

* * *

After teaming up with PJ Harvey and Nick Cave for Before The Poison and with Beck, Blur, Billy Corgan and Jarvis Cocker before that on Kissin' Time, it seems that Marianne Faithfull has grown so loopy for collaboration that her new album, Easy Come, Easy Go, is pretty much all duets.

The gravel-voiced singer has been suffering ill health in recent months, after having been diagnosed with hepatitis C 13 years ago, but that hasn't stopped her from rounding up an impressive list of partners, including Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Rufus Wainwright, Antony Hegarty and Nick Cave. She's chosen some interesting source material too. She tackles Neko Case's ‘Hold On, Hold On' with Chan Marshall, The Decemberists' ‘The Crane Wife' with Nick Cave, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's ‘Salvation' with Sean Lennon, and, most bizarrely, Espers' ‘Children Of Stone' with Rufus Wainwright. Quite how those two will transform the Philadelphia band's sprawling acid folk original is anyone's guess.

The album was recorded at Sear Sound studios in New York with the ubiquitous Jim White and fellow musicians Marc Ribot, Barry Reynolds, Greg Cohen, and Rob Burger. Hal Willner produced. The regular album will be issued as a single 10-track disc, whereas the special edition will contain an extra disc of 8 new songs and an accompanying DVD. A collectible double vinyl edition will also be produced. All these lovely things will be released in November through Naïve Records.

Easy Come, Easy Go
01 Down From Dover [Dolly Parton cover]
02 Hold On, Hold On feat. Chan Marshall [Neko Case cover]
03 Solitude [Duke Ellington & Eddie DeLange cover]
04 The Crane Wife feat. Nick Cave [The Decemberists cover]
05 Easy Come, Easy Go [Bessie Smith cover]
06 Children Of Stone feat. Rufus Wainwright [Espers cover]
07 How Many Worlds feat. Teddy Thompson [Brian Eno cover]
08 In Germany Before The War [Randy Newman cover]
09 Ooh Baby Baby feat. Antony Hegarty [Smokey Robinson cover]
10 Sing Me Back Home feat. Keith Richards [Merle Haggard cover]

Bonus disc
01 Salvation feat. Sean Lennon [Black Rebel Motorcycle Club cover]
02 Black Coffee [Sarah Vaughan cover]
03 The Phoenix feat. Kate & Anna McGarrigle [Judee Sill cover]
04 Dear God Please Help Me [Morrissey cover]
05 Kimbie [Jackson C Frank cover]
06 Many A Mile To Freedom feat. Jenni Muldaur [Traffic cover]
07 Somewhere feat. Jarvis Cocker [Bernstein & Sondheim cover]
08 Flandyke Shore feat. Kate & Anna McGarrigle [traditional]

* * *

Also releasing a new album in November is Jane Birkin, whose Enfants D'Hiver sees her own lyrics married to original music composed by noted French songwriters Alain Souchon and Alain Lanty. Details are a little sketchy so far. Watch this space.

* * *

The same goes for the new Charlotte Martin EP, Orphans, also due in November. The CD collects together some of the unreleased songs Charlotte has recorded in the past. All the info we know is contained within this handy video blog from the artist herself. Watch and learn!

* * *

The ever-quotable Courtney Love has joined seemingly everyone in the blogosphere in criticising this year's MTV Video Music Awards. In a complete reversal of fortunes compared to last year's event, Britney Spears got pretty much universal goodwill while the event itself was panned for being, well, boring, despite Russell Brand's controversial behaviour as host. Writing on her Myspace blog, Courtney had this to say:

"i didnt go to the "VMAS" as we used to call them but theyve gotten so fucking Urban i dont know i guess Van Toffler thought ( hes an exec at MTV ) he was being edgy and he WAS by letting my darkling prince Brand host the mtv awards- but theyre not the "VMAS" and they never will be again - i had ZERO desire to watch let alone go and thats one of my very favourite people ive ever known or had the honour of being friends and fiends with hosting it so i feel horribly rude that my desire not to watch assholes with chastity rings- oh for fucks sake ive had some great conversations but not ONE has ever ended in an Orgasm, y'all need some pussy and some cock and shut the hell up-"

Later, she added: "how stinking and vile to high fucking hell is music right now- christ id like to shoot it between its eyes-"

Well, that's them told.

* * *

Kaki King has teamed up with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats for a new six-track EP to be sold at the merch desk on their upcoming joint US tour, which kicks off next month. The first 200 copies will be pressed on coloured vinyl. Pitchfork are hosting an exclusive track from the EP called ‘Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle' (download), which Darnielle explains is told from the point of view of Nintendo games character Toad. "If you know who Toad is, that's all I'll need to tell you. If you don't know who Toad is, you better recognise," he added.

Black Pear Tree EP
01 Black Pear Tree
02 Mosquito Repellent
03 Bring Our Curses Home
04 Supergenesis
05 Roger Patterson Van
06 Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

* * *

While his bandmate Sharin Foo has been preparing for a new arrival at her home in Los Angeles, Sune Rose Wagner has been hard at work on new Raveonettes material with not one, not two, not three, but four new EPs coming out between now and December. I say now but really I mean yesterday because the first EP is already available, and it's free to download here. It consists of three remixes from the duo's most recent album, Lust Lust Lust.

The second EP, Sometimes They Drop By, out September 23rd, was recorded in Los Angeles, New York and Copenhagen and, according to Wagner himself, is "an explosive mixture of electronic sounds and a tiny bit of guitar." NME.com reports that the third EP will be made available on October 21st, while the final EP will apparently consist of Christmas songs done in a "modern nostalgic" way, and is slated for a November 25th release.

Speaking to NME.com earlier this year, Wagner said "I've always wanted to record two albums in one year, like The Ramones - and doing three EPs is essentially like recording another album." One of the EPs, perhaps the second, is rumoured to be "totally electronic".

The Raveonettes play a one-off London date at 229 on October 25th, with Sharin's sister Louise standing in for the singer.

Remix EP
01 Dead Sound [80KIDZ remix]
02 Aly, Walk With Me [Nic Endo remix]
03 Lust [Trentemøller remix]

Sometimes They Drop By EP
01 Way Out There
02 Sometimes They Drop By
03 Blood Red Leis
04 Vintage Future

* * *

Sky Larkin, who blew us away at Ladyfest London earlier this year, have signed to Wichita Recordings - home of Meg Baird, Conor Oberst, and Los Campesinos! - for the release of their debut album in January next year. The album will be preceded by the single, ‘Fossil, I', out on October 20th. Following their current tour supporting Conor Oberst, Sky Larkin play the DrownedInSound.com vs. Fear & Records-curated DiScover Club at Notting Hill Arts Club on September 27th alongside Data.Select.Party and Sportsday Megaphone and various DJs doing that spinny thing.

* * *

Finally, we were sad to hear that French composer and producer Hector Zazou died yesterday, aged 60, after falling seriously ill earlier this year. Throughout his prolific career, he was not just a pioneer in ambient electronica, classical and world music, but a true champion of the female voice.

Across various works inspired by French poet Arthur Rimbaud, Nordic folk, ancient Celtic texts and a keen willingness to push the envelope, Zazou collaborated with, among others, Björk, Suzanne Vega, Jane Siberry, Siouxsie, Lisa Gerrard, Lisa Germano, Jane Birkin, Laurie Anderson, Lori Carson, Sandy Dillon, Yungchen Lhamo and, most recently, Queenadreena's Katiejane Garside, on the predictably brilliant Corps Électriques (see our review here).

Zazou would often work with these artists without ever meeting them face to face, creating songs and even entire albums over the phone and, later, the internet. "It was like phone sex," said Sandy Dillon upon the release of their 2001 collaborative album 12 (Las Vegas Is Cursed). "Hector would call me and whisper softly: don't you think we should shorten zee intro?"

Zazou's final album, In The House Of Mirrors, recorded in Bombay with musicians from Spain, Uzbekistan, India and Hungary, is released on September 29th.

In the absence of any official videos, here's a dancer's interpretation of Hector Zazou's collaboration with Björk, 'Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu':

* * *

Alan Pedder

Music: Jarvis Cocker

Sam Jacobs — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:40:51 +0000

Back in the mid 90's the British invaded the states again with groups like Oasis, Blur, Supergrass, The Stone Roses, and my favorite, Pulp...amongst others. Blur had a good run, and Oasis continues to put out new music*, but after the success of their 1995 hit Different Class we didn't hear much from Pulp...until last year.

Jarvis Cocker, Pulp's front man released his debut solo album Jarvisto little fanfare, but with considerable recognition from more widely respected publications. I picked up the CD (yes, I still buy CD's) the day it was released. The album was reminiscent of Pulp's mid 90's work, but with a modern edge and the maturity of a guy who's been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. Stand out tracks include Fat Children, Black Magic, and Heavy Weather. The songs are melodic, yet dark like the man himself...or so he would like you to think, I think.

This is far from a new album, but since nothing of significance has been released since Beck's Modern Guilt I've had to revisit other favorites.

Over the next month I will be seeing both Weezer & Ben Folds in concert, so that should be fun. This will be my sixth or seventh time seeing Weezer. Psyched!

~Sam

*The term music is used loosely to describe the more recent releases from Oasis as most of it is crap**
**In my opinion, of course

¡Quémate un disco! (9).

munguis — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:50:40 +0000

01. "The Becoming" - Nine Inch Nails.
02. "Volcano" - Beck.
03. "Ever" - Team Sleep.
04. "Some Riot" - Elbow.
05. "¿Cuántos Pasos? I" - Zurdok.
06. "Gone" - Ben Folds.
07. "Parting of the Sensory" - Modest Mouse.
08. "Last Stop: This Town" - Eels.
09. "Fat Children" - Jarvis Cocker.
10. "Reptilia" - The Strokes.
11. "Deceptacon" - Le Tigre.
12. "I Summon You" - Spoon. (eso parece vaaaals!!)
13. "Lord, I'm Discouraged" - The Hold Steady.
14. "Run" - The Atomic Bitchwax.
15. "Woman" - Wolfmother.
16. "Urethane" - Fu Manchu.
17. "Desert Cruiser" - Truckfighters. (monstrrrrrrruosa)
18. "Big Sky Theory" - Dozer.

Cualquer canción que quieran, CUALQUIERA, se las mando a su correo ¡gratis!. El Blog del Munguis, al servicio de la comunidad.

Post From The Past - September 2007

sherby57 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:02:05 +0000

I'll try not to moan this month, I'll just get on with it:

8) CHESHTER! - It's just a tiny rant. But there is a message from our old friend Chester Spangleton at the bottom. Whatever happened to that guy?

7) Flying Pig - More Evidence - It's a pig, and it's got wings. Is this evidence of a global porcine conspiracy? Or is it just dangling from a wire? You decide.

6) Goot in the Ukraine? - Another piece investigating the infamous "Goot The Crow". Is he connected to footballer Andriy Voronin? Or is it just nonsense?

5) Jimmy Cricket - A wonderful video clip of the legendary comedian appearing in Warrington.

4) Sherby57 Special Achievement Award - Jarvis Cocker is justly praised for his disruption of the heinous "Earth Song".

3) Fireheart! Part 4- Another thrilling chapter in the life of Johnny Fireheart. We meet the new character, Big Poppa Luigi. I'll be honest, it's goes off on something of a tangent.

2) A Typical Sherby57 Weekend - Will the paparazzi never leave me alone??

1) Thumping Hearts - An Exclusive Extract - Perhaps the most erotic bit of fiction in the English language. You need to read the whole novel; that's if you think you can handle constant orgasm. Eve St. Prince is a genius.

See you next month for another installment of nobody's favoutire feature - Post From The Past!

Disclaimer - This is an extremely self-indulgent feature and is a cynical attempt to recycle stuff that I have written in the past in the vain hope that someone will actually read them. Please feel free to slag off “Post From The Past” to your heart’s content.

Songs that I liked yesterday more than today....

mimi — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:39:36 +0000

High Places - From Stardust to Sentience

Moby Grape - I Am Not Willing

The War On Drugs - Taking The Farm

J Dilla - Nothing Like This

Can - Vitamin C

Jarvis Cocker - Baby's Coming Back To Me

(I still like the High Places, Moby Grape, Dilla, Can & Jarvis Cocker songs, but I'm beginning to question The War On Drugs)

Weird sisters

mightychick — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:11:21 +0000

Resulta que fuera del montaje de Harry Potter y el cáliz de fuego ésta perla. Se llama Do the hippogriff y está interpretada por Weird Sisters. ¿Quiénes son? Pues atrevéos a echar un vistazo al vídeo y adivinadlo por vosotros mismos.

Por si no habéis podido reconocer detrás del maquillaje infernal y los pelacos a los miembros de esta bizarra banda, aquí tenéis sus identidades:

Jarvis Cocker (The Pulp), voz

Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), guitarra (triple, whoah!)

Jason Buckle (All seeing I), guitarra

Steve Mackey (The Pulp), bajo

Steve Claydon (Add N to (X)), teclado

Phil Selway (Radiohead), batería

Una pena, aunque en los extras del DVD se puede disfrutar de este vídeo. No sé cómo lo pasarán mejor los implicados, viendo el resultado o haciéndolo. Radiohead, The Pulp, we love you!!!

TOP 5 “pelo greasy”

punkiposh — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:57 +0000

No, este post no lo patrocina Pantene, pero podría. Como es verano y estamos todos (tú también, no lo niegues) más ociosos que la dependienta de una sexshop en Torreciudad, he decidido que por qué no hacer un ranking de las estrellas con el pelo más sucio del Planeta Rock.

Pero vayamos al turrón que me amontono. Entre los candidatos al look “pelo greasy” del año están:

- Pete Doherty: ese ser que, además de tener un botiquín-portátil más surtido que el vestidor de la Barbie, destaca en gol average del resto por no haberse lavado el pelo desde su último concierto con The Libertines.

- Bob Geldof: pues sí queridos, el alma de Band Aid, cuya canción “Do they know it’s Christmas?” supuso la aversión masiva a esas entrañables fiestas de toda una generación, tuvo que lidiar con los tabloides ingleses porque airearon sus sanas costumbres de higiene personal. A saber: el que fuera líder de los Bottom Rats se jactaba de haber estado durante todo su matrimonio con Paula Yates sin haberse duchado ni bañado. Y estuvieron casados unos cuantos años. Al parecer a la Yates le ponía brutísima el tema, porque decía que le sabía dulce (nunca especificó el qué)… Dicho lo cual, a qué comentar más.

- Amy Winehouse: pobre Amy, la verdad, pero es que además de encabezar el ranking de las más “drogotas”, también estaría en la cumbre del Hit Parade de las estrellas que por peinado tienen un microcosmos particular. ¿Alguien sabe si esconde su piano de cola bajo ese moño?

- Melendi: que sí, que sí, que ya sé que las “rastas” no tienen nada que ver con el grado de higiene, pero ¿qué pasa si a eso le sumas la barba cortada con una desbrozadora y una camiseta tipo sobaquera colgona? ¿El resultado? Melendi, el príncipe azul de las “perroflautas” que le emulan con sus chuflos.

- Jarvis Cocker: ¿Y qué pasa cuando la edad no perdona y el cartonaje empieza a relucir? Pues que hay que disimularlo con un flequillito camp, muy del gusto de los “gafapastas”, y procurar que no se mueva, verbigracia del fijador natural más universal, también conocido como sebo capilar.

Pues ahí están mis Top 5 estrellas al "look espesito", ¿se me ha escapado alguno?

i am hidden in plain sight

mixtapesheartbreaks — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:14:19 +0000

As it turns out, the west is not broken. On sophomore release Now or Heaven, LA's The Broken West offer up a highly polished mix of rock and pop. Though not audio gold, it's a solid album that draws on sounds from the last twenty years.

Sounds similar to those of Spoon and Something for Kate dominate the first section of the album. "Elm City" carries the percussion of a rainy, late-night autumn walk, strings and darkness brushing your cheek, while the quick drum beat and thudding left-hand piano on "Auctioneer" proves itself an excellent single.

The latter half of the album is more 80s dominated, but not with the angular, artificial sound that usually jumps to mind with the term. Swagger, plunking piano, and fuzzy guitar reverb marks "House of Lies". Closer "Embassy Row" has a slinkiness to it, and on "Terror For Two" one could almost mistake the vocalist for Jarvis Cocker.

Unfortunately, Now or Heaven suffers one major misstep with "Got It Bad". The minimal bass, synth, and echo on the tune is Prince-influenced, but comes nowhere near even reaching an homage. The track is superfluous and probably should have been cut from the album or at the very least included in the form of a bonus track.

Now or Heaven drops 09/09/08.
For more on The Broken West, check out their MySpace page.
Click on the player below to listen to "Auctioneer".

[audio=http://www.mergerecords.com/audio/broken_west/auctioneer.mp3]

Radiohead, The White Stripes, Beck y muchos más en DVD

rolasymusica — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:46:02 +0000

Próximamente se estará editando un DVD que contiene una serie de presentaciones en vivo de varios artistas que fueron parte de Sky Arts, para el programa "From The Basement". La fecha de lanzamiento en el Reino Unido será 3 de noviembre.

En el DVD se podrán apreciar las actuaciones de bandas como Radiohead, The White Stripes, Beck, entre otros muchos excelentes músicos. Dentro del material exclusivo que traerá el DVD, habrá una presentación de Thom Yorke en solitario cantando Down Is The New Up y Videotape, dos éxitos del último disco de los británicos, In Rainbows.

Esta es la lista de las presentaciones:

Radiohead - 1) Weird Fishes / Arpeggi 2) Reckoner
White Stripes - 1) Blue Orchid / Party Of Special Things To Do 2) Red Rain
Beck - 1) Motorcade 2) Cell Phone’s Dead
Jamie Liddel - 1) In The City
The Shins - 1) Turn On Me 2) Phantom Limb
Jarvis Cocker - 1) Fat Children
Neil Hannon - 1) A Lady Of A Certain Age
Laura Marling - 1) Your Only Doll (Dora)
Sonic Youth - 1) The Sprawl 2) Pink Stream
Eels - 1) Millicent Don’t Blame Yourself 2) It’s A Motherfucker
Albert Hammond Jr - 1) Everyone Gets A Star 2) Postal Blowfish
P.J. Harvey - 1) The Piano 2) The Devil
Super Furry Animals - 1) Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon 2) The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Damien Rice - 1) Delicate 2) Blower’s Daughter
Autolux - 1) Let It Be Broken
Jose Gonzalez - 1) Abraham 2) High Low
Thom Yorke - 1) Down Is The New Up 2) Videotape

Lee más sobre Radiohead, The White Stripes, Beck y todos tus artistas preferidos :)

Kiss My Nauman

pablo marte — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:15:07 +0000

Kiss My Nauman is a four wall video installation by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, produced specially for Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown. The four channel video installation references Art Make-Up, a work by seminal American video artist Bruce Nauman forty years after it was originally made.

Iain and Jane cast the world's longest running Kiss tribute band, Dressed to Kill, in place of Nauman. They film Ash, Gary, Ian and Trevor, each member of the band in a single 47 minute take as they apply their character's make-up. The resulting work is a compelling combination of reconstruction and revision, an oddly beautiful one-liner, a double-take of sorts and regardless of whether you 'get' the Nauman reference - a memerising experience.

Jarvis, Upper Street

rrees — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:55:52 +0000

C'mon there's only one Jarvis! It's Jarvis Cocker with huge, ragged hair, razor sharp jawline and a general air of being the most expensive tramp in the village. And to think that he lives in France now...