Torr

Out in the UK on Monday

Here's the decent stuff that's out in the UK on Monday Nov 27th.

Singles:

The Isles - "Summer Loans" [Vid. 1st single from their album.]

I Was A Cub Scout - "Pink Squares" [Vid. Debut from Nottingham duo.]

The Fratellis - "Whistle For The Choir" [Vid. 3rd single from their album.]

The KBC - "Test The Water" [Vid. 2nd single from Preston 3-piece.]

The Dykeenies -  "Waiting For Go" [Vid. 2nd single from Glasgow 5-piece.]

Muse - "Knigts Of Cydonia" [Vid. 3rd single from BH&R.]

Jyrojets - "Dead On Arrival" [Vid. Debut from Inverness 5-piece.]

Unrelated:

DriveBlind.net offers up a classic acoustic radio session from Unbelievable Truth!

Q&A w/ Neil Hannon

A little Q&A with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.



Q: Do you like any videos you've ever done?

 

A: Good question. Not really. Very few actually. Mostly ‘cause videos by their very nature are wrong. But you do find you have to do them– or certainly you did. These days record companies don’t mind if you don’t bother. My favorite video was for Diva Lady from this album because it’ kind of tickles me and gets to the knob of my sense of humor– congratulatory and ridiculing. The best thing about it was it cost not much at all– chicken feet. To spend so little is– the more you spend the worse it is.

 

 

Q: What songs would you like to play live but can't get to sound right?

 

A: Good question. I’d love to do ‘Our Mutual Friend’ as [it] is on Absent Friends with full orchestra– probably about fifty people on that track and amazing sound. But that will be the day, But we do it live anyway but very differently– still great but not the same. Would also love to do ‘Snowball In Negative’ from the current record but [it’s a] similar problem.

UK Chart Report

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

Singles:

• #18 Snow Patrol - "Set The Fire... (w/ Martha Wainwright)" [Vid]
• #26 Little Man Tate - "Man I Hate Your Band" [Vid. Their 2nd single.]
• #40 The Maccabees - "First Love" [Vid. Debut from Brighton.]
• #56 The Charlatans - "You're So Pretty..." [New mix from singles comp.]
• #62 Captain - "Frontline" [Vid. 3rd single from their debut album.]
• #63 Boy Kill Boy - "Shoot Me Down" [Vid. Charity single.]

Indie-label singles chart: [Updated on Tuesday]

• Fortune Drive - "Recent Advances Vol II" [Vid. 2nd single, from Bristol.]
• The Race - "When It Falls" [Vid. 3rd single from their debut album.]
• To My Boy - "The Grid" [Vid. 2nd single from Durham electro-pop duo.]
• The Morning After Girls - "Shadows Evolve" [Vid. 7"-only.]
• Mistys Big Adventure - "Fashion Parade" [Vid. 7"-only.]

Albums:

• #37 Jarvis Cocker - self-titled solo debut

YouTube Oldies But Goodies

Thanks to Kevin for e-mailing me these YouTube links!

Electronic (first two vids w/ Neil Tennant)

"Getting Away With It" [TOTP '89]

"Dissapointed" [TOTP '92]

"Forbidden City" [Promo video]

Out in the UK on Monday

Here's the decent stuff which is out in the UK on Monday Nov 20th.

Singles:

Fields - "If You Fail We All Fail" [Vid. 3rd single from Birmingham 5-piece.]

The Rumble Strips - Cardboard Coloured Dreams EP [Vid. 2nd release from London 4-piece.]

Starky - "Is This How It Ends" [Vid. Debut from Sydney 4-piece.]

Wild Beasts - "Brave Bulging" [Vid. Debut from Leeds 4-piece.]

The Be Be See - "You K Gold" [Vid. Debut from London 4-piece.]

Take That - "Patience" [Vid. You know you're curious about this, their "comeback" single. I only really hear Gary singing most of it, though he does sound diff than on his old solo stuff. XO's Middle Eight blog has been inspiring me to get in touch with my inner pop-lover.]

You Need This TV Show In Your Life

Run, don't walk, to your TV's channel guide right now and see if you get a station called IN-HD (no Hi Def set needed.) I have the cheapest Time Warner digital-cable package so I didn't think I would get it, but I do. The reason this is important is because that station is currently airing a great weekly show titled London Live,

It's an American re-branding of The Album Chart Show and it consists 2 or 3 song live performances in London from some top fooking bands. I've only been watching for a week and I've already seen the episdes with:

Morrissey, Mojave 3, James Dean Bradfield, Richard Ashcroft, The Charlatans, Snow Patrol, Guillemots, A-ha, The Rifles, and Duels!

There are even more episodes with other great artists airing within the next week. The station is also airing that Kaiser Chiefs' live DVD that never got released in the U.S. I feel like I've died and gone to UK TV heaven.

This is exactly what Americans have needed ever since BBC America stopped airing TOTP, Later With Jools Holland, Parkinson and Liquid News. Though they are airing Robbie Williams' Knebworth show this weekend if you swing that way.

Forward Russia Ticket Giveaway

Someone in my old hood of Dallas is gonna get themselves hooked-up with a pair of tickets to:

Dec 10 '06 Forward Russia / Snowden @ Gypsy Tearoom

To enter, comment below by naming who your favorite band is that requires special punctuation in their name.

Out in the U.S. On Tuesday

Here's the decent stuff which is out in the U.S. on Tuesday Nov 14th.

The Divine Comedy - Victory for the Comic Muse [My interview with him should be up next week.]

...Trail Of Dead - So Divided [$7.99 @ Best Buy this week.]

Tahiti 80 - Fosbury [Uhh...what happened? They sound like Justin Timberlake now. No good.]

Graham Coxon - Love Travels at Illegal Speeds [His 6th album and I still don't care.]

Depeche Mode - Best of Vol. 1 (CD/DVD)

And no, dumbass NME, Jarvis' album is not coming out in the U.S.

The Upper Room split

One of my favorite new English bands, The Upper Room, have split. Isn't it funny that we now live in an age where a band member sends out a myspace bulletin to alert fans (and the other band members!) about this sort of thing:

Jon was told via one of the technicians in our rehearsal rooms that Alex and Beau were rehearsing without us the day before yesterday, with a new drummer.

After very diplomatically ignoring our calls and texts for the last couple of weeks we have taken this to mean an official split. We don't think that they should carry on using the name "The Upper Room", as half the band has now left.

It's a shame after 4 years on the road together it has ended like this, but thanks for all your support over the last few years[...]

The Cake Sale

The Cake Sale are a project featuring an expansive collective of musicians who have combined to create a nine-song album. The CD was release in Ireland earlier this week and entered the charts at #3. All profits will go to support Oxfam Ireland's Make Trade Fair campaign.

Songs on the album have been written by Damien Rice, Conor Deasy, Glen Hansard, Ollie Cole, Emm Gryner, Matt Lunson and guys from Bell X1.

Lead vocalists for the project include Neil Hannon, Nina Persson, Gary Lightbody, Conor Deasy, Gemma Hayes, Lisa Hannigan, Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter,  .

Here's "Some Surprise" with vocals by Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan: