And This Little Piggy Went...

Oink has gotten the treatment that Dead Flowers will probably get someday. You have to love the record industry--can't have people enjoying music, can we?

This from The Guardian:

British police have closed down what they claim is one of the world's largest music piracy websites after a two-year pan-European operation. A series of raids in Middlesbrough and Amsterdam resulted in the arrest of a 24-year-old man and the closure of Oink, a private website that allowed users to locate and download music, movies and other files.

The closure has been welcomed by the music industry, which said that leaked copies of pre-release records meant that Oink users were able to access hundreds of albums before they reached the shops.

The invitation-only website, which had an estimated 180,000 users, was well known among internet filesharers as one of the most popular and exclusive sources of free downloads.

[Read the Whole Article]

Listen to "Cocksucker Blues" by The Stones:

[Download the MP3 Here]

Never Lose That Feeling

Swervedriver are on the comeback trail:

Swervedriver Returning To Duty For 2008 Tour
Adam Franklin
October 19, 2007, 1:20 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

U.K. rock act Swervedriver will reunite for a worldwide 2008 tour after a nearly decade-long hiatus. Dates and other details have yet to be announced.

The group (vocalist/guitarist Adam Franklin, guitarist Jimmy Hartridge, bassist Steve George and drummer Jez) split on the heels of its 1998 album "99th Dream." Although it never enjoyed major commercial success in the U.S., Swervedriver was beloved by fans for its psychedelia-tinged rock sound, best heard on the 1993 album "Mezcal Head."

[Read the whole article]

Listen to "Never Lose That Feeling":

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Band Website]
[Band Wiki]
[Read my interview with Jez]
[Read Phil's Review of "99th Dream"]
(News link from Chrome Waves)

Rest in Peace Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson (middle), with Peter Saville and Alan Erasmus

Tony Wilson, founder of the legendary Manchester record label Factory, died today:

Anthony H. Wilson, co-founder of Factory Records, has died of a heart attack today (August 10) at the age of 57.

Wilson is best known for signing legendary bands including Joy Division and New Order to his label, and as owner of the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester.

He played a key role in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, signing the Happy Mondays.

Wilson passed away on this evening in the hospital after suffering a heart attack that his doctor said was unrelated to his recent battle with cancer.

Professor Robert Hawkins, his doctor at Christie hospital, told the Guardian: "It's very sad. He died as a result of something unrelated to his cancer. His cancer was responding well to treatment but obviously did contribute to his poor health".

Recently it was recommended he take the drug Sutent after chemotherapy failed to treat the disease effectively, but the NHS refused to pay for the £3500-a-month treatment.

However, the Happy Mondays and other bands he signed had started a charity fund to help pay for Wilson's treatment.

His family are reportedly declining to comment at this time, but thanked the staff at the MRI and Christie who have provided "fantastic" care for him over the last few months.

Listen to "Ceremony" by New Order:

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Wikipedia Entry on Factory Records]

Babyshambles 2nd Album Details

NME Reports:

Comeback single 'Delivery' is currently scheduled to be released on September 17.

The tracklisting for the album is:

'Carry On Up The Morning'
'Delivery'
'You Talk'
'Unbilotitled'
'Side Of The Road'
'Crumb Begging Baghead'
'UnStookietitled'
'French Dog Blues'
'There She Goes'
'Baddies Boogie'
'Deft Left Hand'
'The Lost Art Of Murder'

And here's their official preview:

Babyshambles' eagerly awaited new album will be out later this year - and we've got an exclusive track-by-track preview for you here.

Anthony Thornton, The author of the 2006 book The Libertines: Bound Together, has listened to the as-yet-untitled record - and below is his verdict.

'Carry On Up The Morning'
Starting with a rambunctious solo as prickly and spiky as anything on 'Down In Albion', momentarily it sounds like it will be a close cousin of that record. Then the whole band sweeps in and it's clear it's completely different. It sounds big and anthemic without compromising. And then there's the first surprise: Pete Doherty swaps lines - almost to the point of duetting - with himself. It's disorientating but very cool.

Key lyric: "Given up trying to explain/Put it in a song instead."

'Delivery'
The first single from the album features a riff reminiscent of The Kinks' 'All Day And All Of The Night'. The passionate chorus, driven by Mick Whitnall's arpeggios seemingly take the song to an emotional peak before and a chorus of 'oooohs' pushes it even higher. A demo version was available on the Stookie + Jim Bumfest Demos.

Key lyric: "I'm fucked, forlorn, frozen beneath the summer/Don't sing along or you'll get what I got."

'You Talk'
Shuffles on with a kind of swagger of Blondie's 'One Way Or Another' with a staccato riff. Pete mangles the phrase "You Talk" so it becomes a vocal refrain part-accusative, part jealous.

Key lyric: "Songs are just a game/ I'm getting better at cheating at."

'Unbilotitled'
Featuring a story with a cast of characters including Doherty, Wolfman and Mick Whitnall (Blue Eyes) this delicate arrangement is one of the prettiest melodies of the album. It's probably the only recorded song featuring a plea to put trousers on.

Key lyric: "Wolfman said to Blue Eyes 'put your trousers back on.'"

'Side Of the Road'
Has been around since The Libertines' 2003 New York sessions (confusingly called 'The Babyshambles Sessions') a loose ramshackle guitar riff that sounds like the 'Steptoe & Son' TV theme, accelerates into a punk thrash featuring Doherty's machine-gun delivery.

Key lyric: "Half dead a third alive a quarter ticking/ over on the middle by the side of the road."

'Crumb Begging Baghead'
A verse that sounds like cross between The Stone Roses and a classic 1960s garage rock track with a juddering guitar riff. The outro is a Hammond Organ-driven double speed outro.

Key lyric: "I'm crumb-begging baghead baby/"I bet you say that to all the girls."

'Unstookietitled'
Inspired by a guitar riff from 'Fuck Forever' (Doherty even quotes the song) the delicate riff and restrained music bursts into one of Babyshambles' catchiest songs.

Key lyric: "You smoke your cigarettes down to the bone."

'French Dog Blues'
Named after Doherty's hand-drawn French Dog that adorns the cover of 'Down In Albion'. Delicate waves of guitar ebb and flow as before a Who-esque peak.

Key lyric: "So this washes over you/My French Dog Blues."

'There She Goes'
Originally drafted and played solo acoustic by Doherty, this one features upright double bass and brushes giving it a loose jazzy feel wonderful at odds with anything the songwriter has done previously except, perhaps, on the very earliest Libertines demos.

Key lyric: "Caught sight of her white plimsoll/You were dancing to Northern Soul."

'Baddies Boogie'
This is story of a relationship that started with fireworks and finds them 20 years later loathing each other. A great insistent riff
A poetic riff in the middle that out-miserables the likes of Plan B and will have crowds screaming a belligerent "lousy life" at the top of their lungs come autumn.

Key lyric: "Thinking she's far too good looking/To do the cooking/Oooh, that was twenty years ago."

'Deft Left Hand'
From the massive insistent guitar riff, before falling on a staccato subtle toy xylophone and repeating riff and a massive chorus of "Iiiiiii wanna stay by your side", the song showcases how producer Stephen Street's input has expanded Babyshambles' musical scope.

Key lyric: "Went from cheery vagabondage to cold-blued luxury/In four years."

'The Lost Art Of Murder'
First aired on the 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' show, this recording features '60s folk legend Bert Jansch accompanies him (he last performed it at Hackney Empire on Jansch's 'Needle Of Death'). Doherty's lilting voice weaves with the guitar on this precise delicate final song.

Key lyric: "You call yourself a killer boy but the only thing you're killing is your time."

Listen to "Carry On Up The Morning" (demo):

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Download the Demos]
[Band Myspace]

Babyshambles Album Finished?

Spirit of Albion has this little nugget from drummer Adam Ficek's blog:

"Hello, Things in shambles land so far,
Visited Peter at his book signing today, far more turned up than expected, I haven't seen the book yet, I'm sure it'll be an interesting read.
The Album is all finished now, I think it was mastered today!
First single released Sep 16th, Delivery.
Now we start the artwork/video stuff.
So who went to Glasto shindig? I felt we faired ok, not our best not our worst. It's hard sometimes without rehearsals you know! We haven't played together since the myspace show.
Just about to step on the stage when the worrying self questioning of 'how does the intro to pipedown go again', 'how many bars before Peter starts the vocals on beg steal', 'Is there a double chorus, second time around on delivery'. I tend to just cross fingers and hope my memory leads the way.
Anyway I think we pulled it off."

PJ Harvey Returns

NME has the story:

PJ Harvey is to release a new album later this year.

The singer's seventh studio album 'White Chalk' will come out on September 24.

Harvey began work on the follow-up to 2004's 'Uh Huh Her', last year with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her 'To Bring You My Love' and 'Is This Desire?' albums in 1995 and 1998 respectively.

The new album also features the singer's long term collaborators Eric Drew Feldman and Jim White from The Dirty Three.

Harvey is set to showcase new material from 'White Chalk' during her sold-out appearance at Bridgewater Hall on July 7 as part of the Manchester International Festival.

Listen to "A Perfect Day Elise":

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Artist Website]
[Artist Myspace]

Trailerpark Life

Pete's living in a trailer under an overpass, apparently:

DOWN-and-out junkie Pete Doherty is living in a CARAVAN after being chucked out by Kate Moss.

The smackhead singer wept yesterday as he admitted that he is now dossing in a squalid camp site.

It is a far cry from the smart town house he shared with supermodel Kate before she locked him out this week.

The singer headed back to the run-down home yesterday after escaping jail again, despite admitting motoring offences and possessing Class A drugs.
Downcast Doherty told reporters: “I live here now.”

His home is parked under the Westway dual carriageway in a crime-ridden part of Shepherd’s Bush, west London. The area is littered with broken-down cars and blitzed by graffiti gangs.

We revealed yesterday how furious Kate, 33, kicked out the Babyshambles star after he spent the night with a brunette called Lindy.

And as he appeared at West London Magistrates’ court, Doherty broke down in tears as he admitted he was effectively homeless.

Doherty’s lawyer Sean Curran said his client was “suffering personal problems”.

The singer wept as the judge asked him his address and he struggled to remember where he lived.

He started giving model Kate’s address in St John’s Wood, north London, but then hesitated and said “actually that’s changed”.

His lawyer told the court Doherty’s address was in Hackney, east London.
But immediately after the case, the singer headed to the caravan site he now calls home.

Doherty, 28, had earlier walked free from court despite arriving so late the judge had issued a warrant for his arrest.

Judge Davinder Lachher told police to track down the singer, who had been due in court at 9.30am but had not arrived two-and-a-quarter hours later.

Moments after the warrant was issued shamefaced Doherty ambled into court, telling reporters: “I’m a bit nervous.” He admitted possessing crack cocaine, heroin, anaesthetic ketamine and cannabis when his car was stopped in May 5 this year.

He also confessed to driving his Jaguar without insurance or an MOT and the new charge of failing to appear in court.

As the judge weighed up her options Doherty was banged up in the cells for two hours.

After lunch she told him she was sparing him jail on the basis that he goes into rehab in Harrogate, North Yorks, later this month.

He was told: “If you go to this place to have detox and take advantage of it then we will see what sentence is appropriate when you next come.

“But if you do not I can tell you now that you will go into custody.”

Glastonbury Film: Free Download

At Ease Reports:

Julien Temple’s documentary on the Glastonbury festival is available for a free download for the upcoming two weeks at Movielink.com. ‘Glastonbury’ also includes footage of Radiohead (’Fake Plastic Trees’).

After the promotion, the Glastonbury movie and DVD bonus materials (including Radiohead’s ‘Idioteque’) will be available for $19.99 on Movielink as a permanent download or buy downloads of individual performances by artists for $1.99. An entire collection of performances from the DVD will be available for $15 on the service. Too bad Movielink doesn’t like Macs though.

[Link (Only Works in IE)]

The Solo Projects Don't Work

From NME:

The Verve are set to reunite for a winter tour.

The original band of Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe,Simon Jones and Pete Sailsbury have got together for the first time in almost a decade.

In a statement, the band have announced they were: "Getting back together for the joy of the music."

It is believed they will take a summer break and then return to the studio to complete their next album.

The band broke up in 1999, with the tumultuous relationship between Ashcroft and McCabe being well documented with the two exiting the band repeatedly since they began in 1993.

The band are set to play:

Glasgow Academy (November 2,3)
Blackpool Empress Ballroom (5,6)
London Roundhouse (8,9)

Tickets are set to go on sale on July 6.

[Read the full story]

Happy 10th Birthday, OK Computer

Let us take a few moments to solemnly recognize the best album of all time. No, for once I'm not being sarcastic. Here are some highlights from a Melody Maker article entitled "The Making of OK Computer":

The band began recording the first bits of the album during the summer of '96 in their rehearsal studios, a converted apple shed. In September, Radiohead rented actress Jane Seymour's mansion, St. Catherine's Court, moved in all their equipment, and began recording there. Things went well. At first.

"It was heaven and hell," Yorke says. "Our first two weeks there we basically recorded the whole album. The hell came after that. The house was..."--Yorke pauses for a quarter of a minute--"oppressive. To begin with, it was curious about us. Then it got bored with us. And it started making things difficult. It started doing things like turning the studio tape machines on and off, rewinding them."

The house was haunted?

"Yeah. It was great. Plus, it was in a valley on the outskirts of Bath, in the middle of nowhere. So when we actually stopped playing music there was just this pure silence. Open the window: nothing. A completely unnatural silence--not even birds singing. It was fucking horrible. I could never sleep."

Radiohead finally finished recording and mastering in February of 1997. After they got some distance from the record, they were a little startled by it. "At the 11th hour, when we realized what we had done," Yorke admits, "we had qualms about the fact that we had created this thing that was quite revolting."

The people at Capitol Records felt the same way at first, especially since they didn't hear anything on OK Computer that sounded even remotely like a single, let alone like "Creep." But now, everyone's settled down a bit. Capitol's president Gary Gersh, when asked about Radiohead, has even said this: "We won't let up until they are the biggest band in the world."

(Spin, january 1998)

"Karma Police" on Letterman:

Q: The irony is the fact that you set out to make a straight-laced pop record.

Ed: Yeah. We were saying, "Let's do it really straight ahead, let's not fuck around and spend ages analysing the material." And we ended up doing 16 versions of 'No Surprises' and then went back to the first one. The problem is, we get bored very easily.

(Select Magazine, december 1997, Interview from late october in Florence)

Q: So how do you call time on the whole thing? That must be the most difficult thing in the world.

A: Well that's exactly what we had to do. In the end we just called time. It could have gone one for another year. Jonny came in, in January, into the studio one morning and said, 'Right, that's it. We have to stop now. We have to finish what we've done and stop.' So we wrote down what we'd done, and went, 'Yeah. OK.'

Q: Does that mean there are glitches on there?

A: Oh yeah. Fuck, yeah. I'm actually amazed it got the reaction it did. None of us fucking knew any more, wether it was good or bad. What really blew my head off was the fact that people got all the things, all the textures and the sounds and the atmospheres we were trying to create. I figured that it wouldn't happen like that.

I was really amazed about the way the people described how it sounded as well. That was I really thought was great. I suppose that was the bit that was really exciting - doing something you've spent so long on and really agonized about, really having this sound in our heads, like the sound of Ed's guitar on the beginning of 'No Surprises' or the way 'Airbag' starts. One sounds like a car accident, the other sounds like a child's toy.

(Select Magazine, december 1997, Interview from late october in Florence)

"No Surprises" on Jools Holland:

"One of the satisfying things about doing OK Computer was that I felt we'd gotten to a state where I didn't have to get emotional about what I was doing. The best vocal takes I did were usually first takes where I hadn't gotten into it yet. So I wasn't trying to be emotional. It seems like the most overtly emotional things now tend to be adverts and gospel music."

(Alternative Press, april 1998)

Q: What got to you about Bitches Brew?

The first time I heard it I thought it was the most nauseating chaos. I felt sick listening to it. Then gradually something incredibly brutal about it and incredibly beautiful... you're never quite sure where you are in it, it seems to be swimming ar nd you. It has that sound of a huge empty space, like a cathedral. It wasn't jazz and it didn't sound like rock'n'roll. It was building something up and watching it fall apart, that's the beauty of it. It was at the core of what we were trying to do wit OK Computer.

(Q Magazine, october 1997, Interview from day off between Atlanta and Washington)

"I don't think it's pessimistic," Yorke says, politely defensive. "I put the stuff in the songs because I can't say it elsewhere. If you write it down on a sheet of paper it may sound like that, but it's actually the lyrics to a song so it's redemptive its own way. Anyway, it's compassionate, not condemning."

(Rolling Stone, october 1997)

Yorke said he had written a collection of songs for Radiohead's third album, the follow-up to The Bends.

He said: "I've talked to the record company and the managers and stuff and just basically said I don't think we're going to finish it until we finish it. It could take us a good year. That doesn't mean we'll spend a year in a studio, we'll probably only spend a month in the studio, but I'm not going to write anything unless it's coming out."

"The big thing for me is that we could really fall back on just doing another moribund, miserable, morbid and negative record lyrically, but I really don't want to, at all. And I'm deliberately just writing down all the positive things that I hear or see. I'm not able to put them into music yet and I don't want to just force it."

Guitarist Ed O'Brien added: "I think the third album will be celebratory and maybe not so inward-looking, that would be great. I think thinking is a good thing but there are times when you say Fuck it. We're allowed to make mistakes".

(NME, november 18th 1995)

Listen to "Lucky":

[Download the MP3 Here]

Bit of a Blur, Reviewed

In the Guardian:

In this tenth anniversary year of the New Labour government, the mid-1990s present themselves as a time when the champagne flute was always half-full. In Cool Britannia, London was swinging and, on the evening after Blur mimed their breakthrough hit 'Boys and Girls' on Top of the Pops, Vic Reeves and Jonathan Ross led their bass player to the Groucho Club for the first time. No one personifies that period quite like Alex James and it was in the Soho club that he did some of his best work as part of a different triumvirate leading the never-ending party.

t was supposed to be the brothers Gallagher rather than their ostensibly more fey rivals who ramped up the decadence; while it skirts around the Britpop wars, this effervescent memoir proves otherwise and also emerges as the most fascinating, as well as hilarious, document to date of those times. James cites Jeffrey Bernard as one of his idols, when des Esseintes might be more appropriate; either Huysmans's 19th-century decadent creation or, failing that, a member of Motley Crue. Put bluntly, there is an awful lot of shagging in Bit of a Blur.

On the band's first North American tour he strays from his childhood sweetheart for the third time when a journalist from Canadian Elle proffers a handjob by way of an interview; in New York he is led to bed by a model whose face he then recognises on the cover of Vogue. Later he will make a pass at Marianne Faithfull (rebuffed) and sleep with Courtney Love (recommended, apparently). 'I was an outlaw, a rebel,' he reflects. 'If I rationalised my decadence, I'd tell myself it was the duty of rock stars to indulge themselves beyond reasonable limits. If I couldn't be reckless and extreme, I wasn't doing my job properly.'

His 29th birthday ends with him soused in a balthazar of champagne, naked on his hotel bed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the five prettiest fans he has picked up in the lobby. 'You need five girlfriends when your bottle is that big,' he notes.

[Read the Whole Story]

Coming Soon...

Victory is sweet for Pete

From the BBC:

Anything Didier Drogba can do, Pete Doherty can do better.

While the Chelsea striker pounced four minutes from time to secure an FA Cup win over Manchester United, Doherty left it even later to clinch an unexpected win for his side in the Celebrity Soccer Six event.

He also picked up the player of the tournament award - confounding the doubters who assumed he would have two left feet.

The Babyshambles team entered the event as rank outsiders but secured a place in celebrity football folklore thanks to Doherty's late intervention.

The singer slid in to convert a Frank McAvennie cross with seconds left on the clock to clinch a 1-0 win over DJ Spoony's team in the final.

He then did a lap of honour around West Ham's Upton Park ground, before declaring: "I'm delighted we've won - and I'm really pleased about the money everybody has raised for The Samaritans"...

The Babyshambles side were managed by Queens Park Rangers legend Stan Bowles and Doherty, who used to sell his own fanzines as a teenager outside the west London club's ground, was disappointed his side did not play in QPR colours.

"I like the Barcelona strip, but I thought we'd be playing in the blue and white hoops," he told BBC Sport. "Unfortunately that was not the case"...

Doherty's team included former West Ham striker McAvennie and Babyshambles manager Andy Boyd, who admitted: "You could not have written a better fairytale ending"...

Co-manager Adrian Hunter added: "I'm gutted I didn't put a tenner on it, because the odds would have been long! There's a track Babyshambles are recording for the new album called The Deft Left Hand - Peter's winning goal was more a case of the deft right foot!"

New Amiina Song

From aminamusic.com:

amiina played a new song in Brussells the other night.

!linus (who recorded it) says:

at the start it features maria on guitar, solrun at the organ, hildur bowing a saw and edda hitting another saw with a mallet (like what hildur does in ammælis) they change instruments midsong of course, not sure what edda does after the saw but hildur plays on the weird guitar like thing used during hilli

Listen:

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Read my interview with Amiina]

The Truth Is, You're Neither

The American promotional rounds claim another heavily-hyped Brit:

"Fat, ugly and shitter than Winehouse - that is all I am. I'm on my own in America again...I used to pride myself on being strong-minded and not being some stupid girl obsessed with the way I look. I felt like it didn't matter if I was a bit chubby cause I'm not a model I'm a singer."

-Lily Allen, feeling sorry for herself again

Ricky Hops Aboard the Clam Caravan

The Sun Reports:

RICKY Gervais has been asked to star alongside spoof rockers Spinal Tap at July’s Wembley Live Earth concert.

The Office creator is a huge fan of the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and says it is the funniest film ever.

Now its director Rob Reiner wants him to appear with the Tap at the global music extravaganza.

Reiner hopes Ricky will not just introduce the band at the charity gig, but may have a bigger role.

And it could happen as Ricky is big pals with band star Christopher Guest, who plays guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and interviewed him on his Ricky Gervais Meets series.

Ricky has already agreed to appear at the Princess Diana memorial concert — also at Wembley in July.

Spinal Tap Reunion Clip:

"Heinrich Maneuver" Now on iTunes

Follow the link below to support the band:

Yikes

NME's Love to Admire

NME has had a listen to the new Interpol album:

‘Pioneer To The Falls’
Sinister notes, picked out on a knife-edge guitar immediately transport us back into Interpol’s nighthawk world. However with a delicate piano and Paul Bank’s mile-wide vocals, this almost bluesy stomper heralds a warmer record as the lyrics contemplate nature and what “the soul can take”.

‘No I in Threesome’
Beginning with menacing bass, driving guitars unexpectedly deliver a surprisingly jaunty tune. Sounding optimistic, the chorus even contains a jokey pun: “babe it’s time we give something new a try/ alone we may fight/ so let us be three tonight”.

‘The Scale’
Dominated by Daniel Kessler’s hammering guitar, the song scales up and down with an un-nerving precision as the words find Interpol in a vengeful mood. “You think you know us now wait until our stars come out” warns Banks before adding “I made you now I take you back”.

‘The Heinrich Maneuver’
The working title has made the cut, but this does not encourage gut wrenching, as instead an urgent, hip-swinging beast emerges. Potential indie anthem of the future.

‘Mammoth’
Exploding right from the off, Banks steps back from his booming baritone for the first time, as in tender tones he pleads “spare me the suspense”, over a heart-pulsing mesh of slashing guitars and claustrophobic drums.

‘Pace is the Trick’
A classical brittle Interpol opening, with solitary guitars, then vocals before the song breaks fully into widescreen. It’s reminiscent of ‘Antics’, but producer Rich Costey’s touch leaves it feeling bigger and bolder than its predecessors.

‘All Fired Up’
Based around a deceptively raunchy rift, the song finds Interpol sounding surprising raw. With colliding basses, studio handclaps, the be-have suited New Yorkers loosened their waistcoats and let rip.

‘Rest My Chemistry’
On first album track ‘Say Hello To Angels’, Interpol were infused by The Smiths’ ‘This Charming Man’. Here the guitar part of the ‘Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind’ gets similar homage, but re-imagined into a sinister setting Frank Black shouldn’t mind. A stately, hardworking epic.

‘Who Do You Think?’
Like driving fast over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan at three in the morning, this is exhilarating, exciting, relentless and slightly foreboding. Choppy guitars and pounding rhythms make Banks’ booming voice sound invincible.

‘Wrecking Ball’
With the band sounding graceful and gentle, the singer now sounds remorseful, confessing to destructive tendencies. “Nobody warned you/ Nobody told you to make up your mind/ Nobody told you, that I could just waltz through and shake up your style,” he sings. “I’m inside like a wrecking ball in your eyes”

‘The Lighthouse’
After cagey, hesitant opening with distant guitars and whispered vocals, deep piano notes emerge creating a rising and falling feel that manages to invoke a strong rainy storm with the minimal of musical touches. The closer then reaches a thunderous climax as bass and drums crash in, providing an unexpected ending, but one that showcases Interpol’s broadened horizons.

Previously on Dead Flowers...
["Heinrich Maneuver" Radio Rip]
[Three new songs live]

Exactly on the Verge

Congratulations go out to Foreign Born, who have signed a record deal:

Holy SHIT! Foreign Born signed a record deal! Yes, it's happened folks, meaning that the self-releasing days of hanging out at Kinko's are over (hopefully), but you never know, that place has a strange, time-sucking magnetism about it..

As of a day or two ago, not long before going on stage in support of the Walkmen, we signed with Dim Mak, for an August 21st release date of "On the Wing Now". I personally signed it on the hood of my car (every contract I've signed (2) has been on a car somehow) and the rest of the guys, I think signed on a bar..
anyway, so that's that. We added a song to the mix - "Don't Take Back Your Time", for those of you who got the advanced copy, and took one off - "We Had Pleasure".
For the art, we found this painter named Paul Urich, who's currently showing at the Eleanor Harwood Gallery in San Francisco, who let us use his painting "Together". It looks great, thanks again Paul!

Other than that, we won't be playing too many shows until our record comes out. Maybe a few shows here and there, but we'll resume touring in August around it's release, including a cool record release show of some kind.
hope you're well out there,
MP

In other news, there are new versions of "Escape" and "It Grew on You" available for download on the band's myspace, so have a listen.

[Foreign Born Myspace]
[Read my interview with singer Matt P]

Listen to "In the Shape":

[Download the MP3 Here]

I Dreamed I Saw Dylan's Trampoline

From the Guardian:

A new exhibition by photographer Elliott Landy shows Dylan as he's never been seen before - a contented family man, relaxing, composing, and leaping through the air. My 60s - A Personal View by Elliott Landy is at the Exposure Gallery, 22-23 Little Portland Street, London W1 (020 7907 7130) until May 11

Interpol Album Details

NME Reports:

Interpol have revealed details of their forthcoming album.

The follow-up to 2004's 'Antics' is called 'Our Love To Admire' and contains 11 tracks. It is due out via Capitol on July 10 in the US.

The tracklisting is:

'Pioneer to The Falls'
'No I in Threesome'
'The Scale'
'The Heinrich Maneuver'
'Mammoth'
'Pace is the Trick'
'All Fired Up'
'Rest My Chemistry'
'Who Do You Think'
'Wrecking Ball'
'The Lighthouse'

Get Your Sigur Ros Fix in 2007

According to 18 Seconds Before Sunrise:

sigur rós have been keeping busy over the past few months with several new projects to be released later this year. preliminary details of upcoming sigur rós releases are as follows:
hlemmur DVD+CD. eta - july 2007.
the 2002 film and soundtrack together in a double release package
new EP. eta - august 2007.
tracks: von (new version), salka, lagið í gær, rokklagið. includes new live video as a bonus.
live DVD. eta - october 2007.
sigur rós on the road: the as yet untitled DVD of last summer’s iceland tour
acoustic LP. eta - october 2007.
full-length album of acoustic songs
odin’s raven magic DVD+CD. eta - january 2008.
the complete orchestral piece odin’s raven magic in concert

more details on each release will follow in due course.

And Here's a Review of This Week's Acoustic Show:

The first song is a new version of “Von,” followed by “Samskeyti,” “Vaka,” and “Ágaetis byrjun.” In the small room the sound is impeccable, every lilt and wisp in Jónsi’s voice coming through. Some children in the audience gather in front of the stage playing sweet-and-sour with the performers. Orri makes faces at them from behind his drums.

The band plays one new song, a languishing tune sung in Sigur Rós’s imaginary language, vonlenska, followed by “Heysátan” from their newest album, and finishing with a stripped-down, but powerful rendition of “Starálfur,” seldom played in concert. At the end all the players return to the tiny, cramped stage during the proud ovation, taking a fumbled group bow reminiscent of Christmas pageants and school plays.

The End for Gorillaz?

NME Reports:

Damon Albarn has confirmed that Gorillaz will release no more studio albums.

The Blur singer said that the only project left for the cartoon band will be a film featuring a score composition, that has previously been linked to filmmaker and 'Monty Python' mastermind Terry Gilliam.

Speaking to BBC Radio 2, Albarn said: "We're trying to make a film next, starting in September hopefully. It will be a film score. There won't be another pop record."

Reports suggest that the cartoon band members will act as alternative characters, as opposed to playing themselves.

Listen to "Dirty Harry":

[Download the MP3 Here]

"El Manana" Promo: