News
NEWS: Sigur Rós will stream Valtari on Thursday
Presuming you’ve been a good [gender], aside from a moment or two you’ll be blissfully unaware of the general magnificence of Sigur Rós’ new album Valtari. For all those who’ve resisted the temptation of that low-bitrate rip (fun fact: it came from an airplane), then Jonsi an his merry band of three blokes who do the music ‘n that have a special treat for you. It’s called VALTARI HOUR, and although it isn’t quite capitalized like that anywhere else, I do admire the sentiment of an entire hour of the day being specifically dedicated to listening to Valtari. The event will be taking place at 7pm in every single timezone across the world, meaning all you have to do, wherever you are, is point your browsing machine over towards this pretty little link right here to join in on all the hedonistic action that typically follows a Sigur Rós album broadcasting. How they’re going to handle the fact that Valtari is only 54 minutes long, I’ll never know.
To all those twitter kids, they’re asking you blindly promote the event both before, during and after with the hashtag #valtarihour. Stay safe.
Alec
NEWS: My Bloody Valentine to release new EP and album this year
Given the amount of anticipation surrounding the perpetual motion machine of hype that is new My Bloody Valentine material, you’d be forgiven for expecting clouds to have parted for a deity crafted from mangled distortion peddles to descend to earth. Granted, you’d have to be near some fairly forgiving people for that kind of theory to fly, but you’d be forgiven nonetheless. Of course none of that happened, we just got what we asked for, namely, a new EP and LP due for release at some point within the lifespan of a normal human being. The EP, a collection of previously sort-of-difficult-to-hunt-out EP’s ’Feed Me With Your Kiss’, ‘You Made Me Realise’, ‘Glider’ and ‘Tremolo’ will be packaged with 7 rarities whilst the groups third LP, 16 years in the making (suck on that, Chinese Democracy) will also be released this year. Here’s what Kev Kev had to say!
“It didn’t come out at the time because I didn’t really like it… But in retrospect, the reasons for not liking it anymore. It was just, like, I didn’t like the tone of my voice or something. But now I’m quite happy for people to hear it.”
Hooray for diminished expectations!
Alrc
MISC: Nick Cave wrote another film (or, an open letter to Hollywood)
Dear faceless collection of individuals (for the purpose of this letter, I will imagine Kurt Russell)
Please stop putting Shia LaBeouf in motion pictures. He is not a talented actor, nor is he a likable personality. The inclusion of him in a film does not guarantee the success (either critically or commercially) of a motion picture. Nobody saw The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to see his impersonation of an oak furniture store, they went to see an elderly man fumble his way around a room filled of former glories with nothing but a bad script and George Lucas’ throbbing ego pressing into his side. The less we see of him, the better. You hear me? Good. In other news, this doesn’t look too excellent (sorry, Nick. You know I love you <3)
Alec
MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC. Are you happy now?
NEWS: Blur announce “21″, Adele not available for comment
So you’re Blur, right. Hello. You’re sat around, trying to think of a name for your gigantic retrospective collection whilst idly scrolling through the UK album charts, hoping for the right bit of inspiration to jump out at you. You’ve already passed on “Nothing but the Beat” and “Sorry for Party Rocking” until it suddenly hits you, 21. It makes perfect sense, you say loudly so that people can tell you’ve had an idea. It’s been 21 years since your debut album Leasure hit the shelves AND people might mistake your hulking box set for Adele’s latest warble marathon! Excellent, you proclaim. You’re no longer Blur, by the way, I just needed you to be for a while, sorry. Here’s whats in the box set, anonymous reader.
All seven studio albums are collected with over 5½ hours of unreleased material including 65 previously unreleased tracks and more than twice as many rarities, 3 DVDs, a collector’s edition book featuring rare and unseen photos and a new and exclusive interview with the band, and a special limited edition Seymour 7-inch vinyl.
Are you excited? You bet your tits you are. Pricing is as of yet unknown and there’s nary a clue of its release date, but i’ll keep you updated. I promise.
Alec
NEWS: UK record store chart launches, makes you hate life less
Oh, the charts, a weekly tradition which sees your slowly restored faith in humanity routinely smashed into the ground until it stops breathing anymore (here’s the UK singles chart). What a fine, glowing tradition is it. Of course, they’ve always been a coloured by the soulless establishments which have peddled music to teenage masses for ever such a long time. Well, no more. With a little help from the smashing kids at Record Store Day, there’s now a chart which takes into account we, the mouth breathing, overcoat wearing, record buying populace. Every Sunday henceforth will bring the gift of record sales information directly to your life, freeing you from the shackles of sad desperation that the Top 40 has taught you to accept. Too excited to wait? I bet you are, so here’s this; the top selling albums at independent stores so far in 2012, a list which unfortunately has Lana Del Rey’s turgid debut album in at #1. I suppose you really can’t win them all.
1. Lana Del Rey – ‘Born To Die’
2. Leonard Cohen – ‘Old Ideas’
3. Adele – ’21′
4. Bruce Springsteen – ‘Wrecking Ball’
5. The Black Keys – ‘El Camino’
6. Enter Shikari – ‘A Flash Flood Of Colour’
7. First Aid Kit – ‘The Lion’s Roar’
8. Mark Lanegan Band – ‘Blues Funeral’
9. Emeli Sande – ‘Our Version Of Events’
10. The Maccabees – ‘Given To The Wild’
FUN FACT: The above picture is of the counter at my local, deeply excellent record store.
Alec
FREE STUFF: The Pixies Coachella ’04 EP
Hey! How was Coachella? Did you spend it in the company of a hundred thousand perspiring music fans or simply in the company of yourself? Even if you did manage to claw a some semblance of a social life out over the weekend, you’ve more than likely heard a few choice highlights from the festival so far. That’s cool, but 2012 is so, like, 2011. You know what’s cool now? 2004. Oh yeah. That’s why omnipresent trend-setters and not professional old rope salesmen The Pixies are reminding you once again that they did a Coachella set back in the year of our lord, two thousand and the fours. Entitled Coachella’04, here’s the track-listing
1. U-Mass
2. Monkey Gone To Heaven
3. Hey
4. Caribou
Want it? You got it. Just throw your email address into that little machine above and you’re ready to go.
Alec
