Torr

Stream RA live set

Stream some of Richard Ashcroft's live set from London's Electric Ballroom which was broadcast on BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq show. His portion of the show starts at 17:70.

Sonnet / Music Is Power / Sweet Brother Malcolm / Drugs Don't Work (messes up, starts again) / Lucky Man / Check The Meaning (acoustic) / Break The Night With Colour / Bitter Sweet Symphony

You can also hear RA's thoughts on each track of the new album which is really growing on me. I wish he was opening the portion of Coldplay's tour which is coming thru Texas.

UPDATE 2: Moz to play SXSW and Oklahoma

The SXSW list has been updated again and Moz is now on it! Morrissey will be interviewed by Rolling Stone's David Fricke on Thursday March 16th followed by a performance @ Austin Music Hall presented by BBC Radio.

He knows I'd love to see him... (he did cancel Houston & Austin on the last tour) but there's no way anyone with just a wristband (and not a $500 badge) will be getting in. Guess I'll just have to wait until his proper u.s. tour for ROTT.

UPDATE: First there was an Odessa show mentioned, now that show isn't happening, but these shows will (unless they get cancelled too!):

Mon March 13 - Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom [1600 capacity]
Tues March 14 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Bricktown Events Center [1800 capacity]

Good bands that have been added to the sxsw list:
[AR's version gives us wonderful line-breaks]

• Boy (Toronto ON)
• Billy Bragg (London UK)
• dEUS (Antwerp Belgium)
• Little Barrie (London UK)
• Metal Hearts (Baltimore MD)
• The Stills (Montreal QC)

Bands that have been removed from the sxsw list:

• Cooper Temple Clause
• Elbow
• Charlotte Hatherley
• Young & Sexy

p.s. Here's why you don't want a Smiths reunion. Ewww, that's two ugly old men.

UK chart report

Here's the decent stuff that entered the UK charts this weekend.

Singles:

• #10 A-ha - "Analogue (All I Want)" [I'm surprised it did so well! The album is great, but this track is just a shameless attempt at a hit with Max Martin's dirty hands all over it. Though I guess it worked! Anyone have the b-side which is the original mix of the song?]
• #24 Starsailor - "This Time" [Vid. Exactly the position it deserves. 2nd single from On The Outside]
• #27 Protocol - "Where's The Pleasure" [Clip. Exactly the position it deserves.]
• #43 Infadels - "Can't Get Enough" [Glad it didn't make the top 40.]
• #51 Be Your Own Pet - "Let's Get Sandy" [Glad it didn't make the top 40.]
• #53 Moby - "Slipping Away" [Stream. I'm completely indifferent to it. 3rd single from Hotel.]

Indie-label singles chart:

• #12 Your Vegas - "Flybuzz" [clip]
• #13 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - "Ramblin' Man" [Vid. 1st single from Ballad of the Broken Seas.]

These tracks did not chart:

• Richard Hawley - "Just Like The Rain" [Stream. Tragic! Though it did make his album re-enter at #73.]
• Cut Copy - "Going Nowhere"
• The Motorettes - "Super Heartbeats" [clip]
• Circlesquare - "Fight Sounds" EP [mp3]

Albums:

• #1 Arctic Monkeys - debut album [Fastest-selling debut album in UK-chart history. It sold 363,725 copies which breaks Hearsay's previous number by 58,000. Insane. I still think they're crap though.]
  
  
• #2 Richard Ashcroft - Keys to the World [Kept off the top spot by crap.]
• #9 The Kooks - debut album [Good for them. I'm surprised it did that well.]
  
• #26 CYHSH - debut album [Musically they're okay, but I still hate the vocals.]
  
• #45 Cat Power - The Greatest
• #63 Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat

Out next week

It's slim pickins on both sides of the atlantic next week.

Out in the UK on Monday Jan 30th...

Beth Orton - "Conceived" [1st single from Comfort of Strangers]

• Mogwai - "Friend Of The Night" [1st single from Mr. Beast]
• The Go Team - "Ladyflash" [Billionth single from their album]

Out in the US on Tuesday Jan 31st...

       
Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim & Jeff Buckley [ft. Engineers, Earlies, Magic Numbers, Sufjan etc.]

• Moreau - Nova Scotia [Formerly known as Cousteau.]
• The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin [CD + DVD w/ 5.1 surround sound.]
• Coldplay - Love, Actually [All I know is it's a DVD-Audio disc, anyone know what's on it?]

ROTT sleeve revealed

The sleeve for the new Morrissey album Ringleader of the Tormentors has surfaced. I thought it was funny when a similar pic was used in an ad for his London shows, but this is just too silly to be on the cover of the actual album. I would have preferred the Vespa photo. Hell, I would have even preferred that coughing photo. Sigh. Ever since SG he's totally ruined his legacy of great artwork. Perhaps the sleeve for 1st single "You Have Killed Me" will be better?

UPDATE: A slightly different sleeve has appeared. There will also be a limited-edition version of the album that will include a DVD with the vid for the 1st single. Below his name it says "Registrato e Mescolato a Roma Estate" which I believe translates to something like "Recorded in Rome in Summer."

Scandinavian bits & bobs

Swedish pop-rocker Andreas Johnson has returned! Watch the new vid and stream clips of the new album. His previous releases Liebling and Deadly Happy were some of my favs of '99 and '01.

Over to Norway, Sondre Lerche has a new video. It's the most easy-listening/lounge/coffee-shop he's ever sounded, ugh. It's from the 1st album that he's releasing this year. His 2nd album of '06 is supposed to be "a primitive rock record with punchy songs and a more aggressive sound." Yes, please.

And over to Denmark, Kashmir  has a new video from their latest album.

RA gets u.s. release date

Richard Ashcroft's 3rd solo album Keys To The World will be released in the U.S. on March 21st via Virgin Records. Here's the setlist from his show in London last night:

Keys To The World / Sonnet / Music Is Power / A Song For The Lovers / History / Science Of Silence / New York / Sweet Brother Malcolm / The Drugs Don't Work / Words / Lucky Man / Check The Meaning / Lonely Soul / Break The Night With Colour / Bitter Sweet Symphony

30 sec. clips from the album:

• 1. Why Not Nothing? - windows high • windows low
• 2. Music Is Power - windows high • windows low
• 3. Break The Night With Colour - windows high • windows low
• 4. Words Just Get In The Way - windows high • windows low
• 5. Keys To The World - windows high • windows low
• 6. Sweet Brother Malcolm - windows high • windows low
• 7. Cry Til The Morning - windows high • windows low
• 8. Why Do Lovers? - windows high • windows low
• 9. Simple Song - windows high • windows low
• 10. World Keeps Turning - windows high • windows low

A couple new London bands

Both bands have their debut 7"-singles out in the UK this month.

The Rumble Strips - A thick cockney accent backed by 1950s-horns.

• "Motorcycle" [vid]

The Bright Space - Uplifting guitar-pop with a bit of synth.

• "Wrongstar" [mp3]

Reasons To Stay Indoors

Monday
Feist - Jimmy Kimmel (she's on MTV2's Subterranean on Feb 13th.)

Tuesday
Beth Orton - Letterman (she's on TNT's Charmed that night too.)
The Constantines - Carson Daly
She Wants Revenge - Jimmy Kimmel (they're on CBS' Love Monkey on Feb 7th.)

Thursday
Iron & Wine and Calexico - Craig Ferguson (repeat from Jan 6th.)

And if you're a fan of Stephen Colbert (he of Colbert Report) I suggest you download the great 4-part audio-interview with him at SF Gate. In it he mentions that not only was he the youngest of 11(!) kids, but also that his father and 2 brothers died in a plane crash when he was a teen. Yikes. That would explain his great use of anger in his comedy.

Out in the U.S. on Tuesday

The decent stuff that's out in the U.S. on Tuesday...

Ester Drang - Rocinate [3rd album from Oklahoma 3-piece dream-poppers.]

Clearlake - Amber [3rd album from English 4-piece indie-rockers.]

The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun [2nd solo album from guitarist of Rilo Kiley; a bit like Elliott Smith.] 

• Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat [1st solo album from Rilo Kiley singer.]
• Cat Power - The Greatest [I was never a fan before, but the 1st single sounds good!]
• Wintergreen - Extended Play EP [Debut release from LA 4-piece.]
• Portugal The Man - Waiter: You Vultures! [Debut album from Alaskan band based in Portland.]
• Film School - self-titled [Debut album from San Fran 5-piece]
• Jose Gonzalez - Stay In The Shade EP
• Royksopp - What Else Is There
• Saint Etienne - Tales from Turnpike House [Released in their native UK six months ago.]
• Audio Bullys - Generation [2nd album from English electronic duo.]
• Tarkio - Omnibus [Colin Decemberists' old band]
• Future Retro - 80's classics remixed

       
Elvis Presley - #1 Singles [20 two-track cds of his #1 U.S hits, w/ original b-sides.]

DVDs:

• The Tomorrow Show [2 discs; performances & interviews w/ The Jam, Elvis Costello etc.]
• God Save the Queen [21 live performances from Iggy and The Stooges, The Buzzcocks etc.]
• Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII [15 song live show from reunion tour.]