Envy & Other Sins have been touring the UK under their own steam for most of 2005, building up a great word of mouth fanbase and allowing an increasing number of people a little peek into their unique world. The band celebrate their December 5th debut single release, “Prodigal Son”, on the Loog label with a string of shows throughout the remainder of 2005.

DECEMBER

Saturday 3rd                   -           Southampton, Lennon’s

Monday 5th                    -           Liverpool, University

Thursday 8th                   -           Sheffield, University

Friday 9th                       -           Northampton, The Social

Saturday 10th                 -           Coventry, The Colosseum

Sunday 11th                   -           Cardiff, The Barfly

Wednesday 14th              -           Nottingham, The Social

Saturday 17th                 -           Birmingham, Yuletide Extravaganza, venue tbc

Wednesday 21st             -           Bristol, Bar 3

(more…)

In perhaps the boldest pairing since Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller or Humphrey Lyttleton brought his trad-jazz flair to Radiohead, British Sea Power are to release a joint single with venerable Somerset hit-makers The Wurzels. The single will be available from 17 November.

The single is a limited-edition, vinyl-only double A-side. Side A will feature The Wurzels? interpretation of the British Sea Power Top 30 hit Remember Me. Side AA will be a British Sea Power version of Wurzels smash I Am A Cider Drinker.

The Wurzels are best know for their 1976 UK Number One single Combine Harvester (Cider Drinker got to number three). This joint single from British Sea Power and The Wurzels is perhaps part of an ongoing BSP mission to embrace everything that is good in the world of song. After all, this is a group who have toured gigantic US arenas with The Killers and also played alongside an 88-year-old folk legend in The Copper Family - a band who made collaborative records with Czech duo The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa and toured with The Strokes, Pulp and Flaming Lips. In the same week they recorded their version of Cider Drinker, BSP also played a joint show with krautrock institution Faust.

The Wurzels/BSP single will be limited to 1,966 copies - marking the year in which Adge Cutler created The Wurzels. The Adge Cutler story is an underpinning tragedy in the Wurzels narrative - he died in a car crash in 1974 before The Wurzels hit chart gold.

The single will only be available at dates on the BSP November UK tour and from the BSP website. The Wurzels will appear as special guests at the BSP show at London Forum on Thursday 24 November. The full dates are as follows.

Thursday 17 November Barrow Canteen Media & Arts Centre
Saturday 19 November Glasgow QMU
Sunday 20 November Manchester Ritz
Thursday 24 November London Forum
Friday 25 November Nottingham Festival Hall
Saturday 26 November Oxford Brookes University
Sunday 27 November Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, Cornwall
Monday 28 November Bristol Bierkeller

These November dates will be staged under the Club Sea Power banner. The London Forum show will be preceded by an intimate, warm-up show at the tiny Brighton Freebutt on Wednesday 23 November. The Freebutt was one of the original homes of the band?s Club Sea Power night.

(more…)

1. Ladytron – International Dateline
2. My Morning Jacket – Anytime
3. Morton Valence – Man On The Corner
4. The Like – What I Say And What I Mean
5. The National – Lit Up
6. Richard Hawley – Coles Corner
7. The Futureheads – Area
8. Belle And Sebastian – Act Of The Apostle (part 1)
9. King Creosote – Bootprints
10. Saint Etienne - A Good Thing
(more…)

The student indie equivalent of the ‘Now that’s What I Call Music’ series, It’s another in a long line of tedious compilations that is basically The V festival on two cd’s. A corporate miss match of piss take ‘Alternative artists’ who all know the taste of industry cock. (well most). There are of course exceptions. The ones that have slipped through the net, after some obese marketing execs took time out to eat yet another slice of  fat profits, brilliant gems such as The Magic Numbers, Morrissey, Maximo Park and Editors managed to sneak past the proposed tracklisting of pure depressing shite. but are lost amongst it.

 The first four songs being an excellent illustration of this, Coldplay, KT Tunstall, Oasis and Razorlight all within quick succession, offering that simulated feeling of being well and truly buggered with something large and sharp, It has Q magazine and Joe Whiley stamped all over it and is equally vomit inducing. Of course it doesn’t end there. We are treated to Paul McCartney’s latest masterpiece, the man who gave us The Frog Chorus and The girl Is Mine, suddenly is elevated to the ranks of ‘indie cool’ but then again he is snuggled next to the likes of  Travis and the eternal turd that won’t flush Embrace, so I guess it kind of evens out. But by the time I’ve heard the hideous travesty that is Audio Bullys butchering a classic Nancy Sinatra song with all the sensitivity of Gary Glitter at a kid’s party, I have to admit defeat and call it a day.

The truth is I don’t understand who buys this shit. Why would anyone with the good sense to likes Editors ‘Blood’, be satisfied to own a cd that shares it with ‘Ceases, Jerk It Out’ that’s just totally fucked up, or being discerning enough to recognise the sheer unbridled brilliance of Goldfrapps, Ooh La La, and yet be content to have it sat side by side with Athletes Half Light, How does that work?

Perhaps the one redeeming quality of this particularly dire collection of songs is that Kaiser Chiefs aren’t on it. A small victory, but for the sake of my health one that I will cherish.

3/10

Spring Heeled Jim

(more…)

I always found Euros Childs, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci a little too irksome, perhaps a tad unfairly tagged as a poor mans Super Furry Animals, they nevertheless had the power to irritate on tap.

His solo project doesn’t exactly offer a radical departure. A combination of a turn from Brian Potters Phoenix Club and the incidental music from a particularly bizarre episode of The Mighty Boosh, he fuses cheesy keyboard arpeggios and unnerving vocal - yelpings. But the track holds a decent enough melody and posses a certain charm, so all things being considered….well its ok.

6/10

James Heward

(more…)

Clearlake were always a band who threatened to be the next big thing, but were always thwarted by media disinterest where it counted. I’ve always found singer Jason Pegg’s glum lyrical presentation appealing, combining the less celebrated emotions of pop with some fascinating off the wall Syd Barret moments. This is maybe where they had gone wrong, always a cut above the indie hopeless, but not commercial enough to make a difference.

I doubt ‘Good Clean Fun’ will alter their fortunes either. Influenced by the fuzziness of My Bloody Valentine (isn’t everyone these days) and the sparse melody that deliberately remains as shoe gazey as its production, it’s distinctive if a little odd for a choice of single. Reminiscent of late Throwing Muses, its apparently gaining attention stateside which I can kind of understand, but it remains to be seen how the great British public will perceive it….Watch this space.

7/10

James Heward

(more…)

Never really understood the appeal of looking like an inbred creation of a night of passion with Whitesnake and Def Leopard, but Towers Of London have adopted it and amazingly it doesn’t seem to be doing them any harm.

They are The Darkness for The Libertines generation and once again the distinction between serious creativity and irony seems extremely smudged. Still this isn’t nearly as bad as their last effort, the charming ‘Fuck It Up’. It contains a high pitched early Manics-esque riff and a chantable punk chorus hook, but suffers from lyrical banality at a cringe worthy level.

Everything about them screams…. LANDAN, name checking grimy clubs and pubs, just in case we dare to forget where they hang out. So they socialise with The Rakes and Bloc Party and evidently the mutual backslapping is paying off, but something tells me the success will be short lived, and I doubt I’ll be losing any sleep over it.

5/10

James Heward

(more…)

Having toured and worked with Manchester’s psychedelic indie combo, ‘the Earlies’. King Creosote has managed to imprint himself in the general consciousness of the music industry with remarkable effect.

Already touted as the new Badly Drawn Boy without the tea cosy, he prides himself on lyrical depth, investigating the complexities of human emotion to the full, amongst warm melodies presented with a fine array of orchestrated arrangements that managers to remain perfectly under produced.

‘Bootprints’, lifted from King Creosote’s current album, ‘KC Rules OK’, sums up his sound and ideology perfectly. A brilliant take on the mundanity of everyday life and the relationship ruts we forever plough, set to a comic sea-side organ and shuffle beat. Beautifully quirky and touching at the same time.

9/10

James Heward

(more…)

4AD’s 25th Anniversary shows get under way this week.

Paula Frazer (formerly of Tarnation) has agreed to play with Kristin Hersh at the Scala - there are still a handful of tickets available for these shows, and also a few remaining for Magnetophone at The Luminaire, Celebration at The Water Rats and Blonde Redhead at The Scala.

The final, full line-up for the 1980 Forward event looks like this:

• Thursday 17th November @ The Scala
  TV On The Radio + Celebration
• Friday 18th November @ The Luminaire
  Magnetophone (with special guests Sonic Boom and King Creosote) + Minotaur Shock
• Saturday 19th November @ Blackheath Halls
  The Breeders + Polytechnic
• Sunday 20th November @ Blackheath Halls
  The Breeders + Wolf & Cub
• Monday 21st November @ The Scala
  Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses set) + Paula Frazer
• Tuesday 22nd November @ The Scala
  Kristin Hersh (solo set) + Paula Frazer
• Wednesday 23rd November @ Bush Hall
  Mountain Goats + Emma Pollock
• Thursday 24th November @ Water Rats
  Celebration + Todd + Wolf & Cub
• Friday 25th November @ Conway Hall
  Mojave 3 + Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters set)
• Sunday 26th November @ The Scala
  Blonde Redhead + Johann Johannsson

4AD records and merchandise will be on sale at all of the venues.  In addition, the Blackheath Halls is staging an exhibition of work by Vaughan Oliver and v23.  On the 19th and 20th of November, Vaughan will be at the Blackheath Halls in person to sign copies of a new v23 book which collects together a selection of poster designs.

4AD
http://www.4ad.com

(more…)

4AD’s 25th Anniversary shows get under way this week.

Paula Frazer (formerly of Tarnation) has agreed to play with Kristin Hersh at the Scala - there are still a handful of tickets available for these shows, and also a few remaining for Magnetophone at The Luminaire, Celebration at The Water Rats and Blonde Redhead at The Scala.

The final, full line-up for the 1980 Forward event looks like this:

• Thursday 17th November @ The Scala
  TV On The Radio + Celebration
• Friday 18th November @ The Luminaire
  Magnetophone (with special guests Sonic Boom and King Creosote) + Minotaur Shock
• Saturday 19th November @ Blackheath Halls
  The Breeders + Polytechnic
• Sunday 20th November @ Blackheath Halls
  The Breeders + Wolf & Cub
• Monday 21st November @ The Scala
  Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses set) + Paula Frazer
• Tuesday 22nd November @ The Scala
  Kristin Hersh (solo set) + Paula Frazer
• Wednesday 23rd November @ Bush Hall
  Mountain Goats + Emma Pollock
• Thursday 24th November @ Water Rats
  Celebration + Todd + Wolf & Cub
• Friday 25th November @ Conway Hall
  Mojave 3 + Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters set)
• Sunday 26th November @ The Scala
  Blonde Redhead + Johann Johannsson

4AD records and merchandise will be on sale at all of the venues.  In addition, the Blackheath Halls is staging an exhibition of work by Vaughan Oliver and v23.  On the 19th and 20th of November, Vaughan will be at the Blackheath Halls in person to sign copies of a new v23 book which collects together a selection of poster designs.

4AD
http://www.4ad.com

(more…)