Kingblind Downloads (Halloween Edition)

Excellent Streaming Halloween Radio Station
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More Halloween tunes
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David Skal talks about the Origins and Myths of Halloween. [MP3 file] The author of Death Makes A Holiday was interviewed in 2004 for the radio program Talking History. The Skal interview runs from 4:47 to 18:20 of the program.
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Elvis Remains Top-Earning Dead Celeb (HALLOWEEN EDITION NEWS)

Elvis is still the king when it comes to earning royalties, according to Forbes magazine, but Shakespeare could have given him a run for the money. Forbes’ annual list of Ten-Top Earning Dead Celebrities showed Elvis Presley was top earner for the fifth straight year, generating $45 million for his estate. “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz held his customary spot at No. 2, with $35 million. Presley died in 1977 and his music is still going strong, but he has a long way to go to outlast Shakespeare, still on theater marquees nearly 400 years after his death. The magazine calculated what the Bard’s heirs might collect each year if he were still under copyright and estimated it at $15 million with over 5,000 performances of his plays and hundreds of thousands of books sold in the last year. That would put him behind fellow Englishman and former Beatle John Lennon (No. 3 at $22 million) and artist Andy Warhol (No. 4, $16 million) and ahead of dead heavyweights such as Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe. This year’s list also showed the big impact of Hollywood, as Johnny Cash and Ray Charles broke into the top rankings as the release or planned release of film biographies boosted their royalty statements.

Kingblind Downloads

Iggy Pop – Heroin Hates You
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AC/DC: A truckload of records..
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Mogwai Finish Album, Beaten by Police in Nazi Death March, Tour for Charity

In a brief statement issued by singer Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai have finished their latest album, the follow up to their last proper LP Happy Songs for Happy People and 2005′s live BBC recording, Government Commissions. The album is, as of yet, untitled. However, for the sake of bulky paragraphs and excessive comma use, I have supplied the following three tentative appellations: 1. Brainwaves: Fact or Fiction? 2. Gimme Core, and 3. Fuck, I’m Thirsty! Where’s My Nalgene Bottle? While no further information was released regarding the upcoming release, Braithwaite did take the opportunity to discuss recent goings on in the US.

“I see that there has been a riot in Ohio,” Braithwaite stated. “After the black population of Toledo took exception to a ‘police supervised’ Neo-Nazi march. I’m actually watching American news and they are talking about the rights of the Nazi’s to march and blaming “gangs” for the violence!” We also blame fags for AIDS dude. Blaming gangs for violence shouldn’t really be that high on the, “Did I just hear an American say that?” list.

Braithwaite went on, “Last week a black man was punched repeatedly in the head by the New Orleans Police officers, an act that was caught on camera and shown internationally. People wonder why the world is incredulous at America’s righteous crusades in Iraq and beyond. You couldn’t make it up.”

Mogwai has two shows scheduled for November in support of One in Four, a mental health awareness charity.

11.28.05 – Edinburgh, SCO – Cabaret Voltaire
11.29.05 – Glasgow, SCO – The Arches

Kingblind Downloads

Download remixes of Deerhoof’s “Rrrrrrright” and add one yourself.
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Download Son Volt’s October 21st Washington show, courtesy of NPR.
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Daniel Johnston:: Fish
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Mick Harvey – One Man’s Treasure (Album Review)

A country as big as Australia certainly ought to have a country music tradition, but would you know what it sounds like? Mick Harvey – composer, producer, talented instrumentalist and solid rock of the band he co-founded, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds & The Birthday Party – isn’t going to make it famous overnight, but One Man’s Treasure does give us an intriguing taste of what he calls “urban Australian alternative country music”.

Urban country? Oh well, let’s not quibble over an oxymoron. What matters is the music, and Harvey’s treatment of some classic songs – and some of his own – is really rather good.

That should come as no surprise, of course. Harvey hasn’t spent nearly 30 years in the business without adding an lot of varied experience to his native talent, and there are many who suspect that Nick Cave would never have acquired his current cult status without Harvey holding it all together.

What does come as a welcome surprise is just how good a voice he has; somewhere between tenor and baritone, with an attractive growl at the lower end. It’s highly effective in the slower, tender tracks such as the dreamy Louise and Come Into My Sleep (Nick Cave). In the melancholy First St. Blues (Lee Hazlewood) he would even give Richard Hawley a run for his money.

So what does Australian urban country sound like? Well in Harvey’s production it’s relaxed, gentle strings overlaying equally gentle guitar, some sensitive percussion. Some of the tracks lean more towards the American version – especially Man Without A Home, with its reference to Jolene and soulful premonitions of disaster – and some lean towards folk (We Will surrender), but these songs offer far more variety than classic country and it’s more a spirit than a genre.

Demon Alcohol, one of the stand-out tracks, has more than a whiff of Bad Seeds about it, the discordant slashes of jangling guitar reminiscent of Red Right Hand and Let Love In; Planetarium is a wistful and beautiful song, developing into a frenzied guitar solo.

The River (Tim Buckley) is an ominous minor-key song in which Harvey’s voice and simple guitar accompaniment are perfectly attuned; Bethelridge has an extraordinary sustained, eerie backing that talks of vast empty spaces and seems to nod in the direction of native Australian soundscapes. The album closes with the exquisite Will You Surrender, Harvey’s voice taking on some of the softness of Ralph McTell, infinitely caressing.

After two albums of Serge Gainsbourg covers and collaborations with Anita Lane and others, it’s good to see Mick Harvey taking centre stage himself. This is an album of varied pleasures: it doesn’t grab you by the scruff of the neck but it pulls insistently at your arm until you have to take notice. (Helen Wright)

Kingblind Downloads

Cinematic Orchestra – Motion
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Small Faces – The Darlings Of Wapping Wharf Lauderette
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Animal Collective – Winters Love
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The Fiery Furnaces:: Rehearsing My Choir (Album Review)

The Fiery Furnaces are one of the more demanding bands we’ve got. Blueberry Boat is my favorite Fieries album, yet one that I can only summon the energy to listen on rare occasions, and some listeners never make it past the second key change in the opening song, “Quay Cur.” This is not music you play in the background when you’re doing something else, or heaven forbid at a party; it’s music that demands an interested and tolerant audience. It’s not so much a tolerance for abrasive sounds they ask of their listeners (though that’s certainly there at times), but more a tolerance for a playful approach that can be either cloying or charming depending on your mood or tolerance for such things. The beauty of BB is that patience on the listener’s part usually results in rewards: themes are revealed, melodies are revisited in odd spots and odd ways, music that starts as odd becomes wonderfully expressive – in short: things start to add up.

The unfortunate and simple truth of Rehearsing My Choir is that it just doesn’t add up this time. The album certainly demands the same attention and patience as their previous behemoth, but this time out there is no payoff. Roping their grandmother, Olga Sarantos, in to tell her life story adds a personal history tinge to Eleanor’s travelogues, and while the story and Eleanor’s involvement in it are interesting at first, it wears thin and displays nowhere near the charm of a song like “Chief Inspector Blancheflower.” The problem this time out isn’t a lack of interesting material, it’s that these aren’t lyrics, these aren’t songs, these are for the most part spoken word stories backed by some of the most horrific and baroque music ever recorded. It’s broken musical theater.

Songs like “Guns Under the Counter” and “A Candymaker’s Knife” rely almost completely on grandma’s spoken word, drunken muppet vocal delivery and Matthew’s attempts to soundtrack them. Grandma’s delivery is jarring at best and gut-wrenching at other times. Matthew’s music redefines ADD in a bad way, but worse, despite constant instrument changes and key changes, it’s mostly boring and almost always annoying. His pitiful attempts at adding musical theatricality to these spoken stories makes them sound like carnival sideshows rather than adding anything to them. I’m probably not being fair to Eleanor and grandma here, the music distracts and detracts from any possible impact the stories could ever hope to have.

The most glaring example is “Seven Silver Curses.” While some erstwhile Fieries fans have told me this is the one true masterpiece on the album, it’s epic in running time only. The song is 9:20 of a story I don’t care to decipher even on my twentieth listen and is backed, or rear-ended, by some of the most grossly repetitive and annoying guitar parts and keyboard lines I have ever heard. At one point Eleanor and grandma start yelling out “3:11! 3:12! 3:13!” Great. Thanks for that. It does end with a nice keyboard solo, which has to be a thank you for making it that far; unfortunately, it’s an empty gesture as the record still has almost twenty minutes to go before it sputters to a close.

The title track is ludicrously awful. It features nauseating keyboard effects, a choir singing out of tune and grandma admitting “that doesn’t sound good!” No it doesn’t, grandma.

As granny says: “though let’s be fair.” The album opens with two of its strongest songs. They don’t seem that way at first, but believe me, by the time you hit the five-minute mark of “Seven Silver Curses” you’ll be wistfully remembering the little piano ditty that opens “The Garfield El” and the groovy dance beat of “The Wayfaring Granddaughter.” “The Garfield El” serves as a good opening of the album, indeed it foreshadows some of the agony to come as grandma chirps, “Faster hammers! Faster hammers!” But it’s mainly pleasant and one of the few times Matthew’s cloying instrumentals are oddly palatable.

“The Wayfaring Granddaughter” strikes me as the one place where the album actually works. Eleanor and the grandma trading lyrics makes sense. There’s a beat. There’s a melody. (Believe these things are rare enough on the album that they’re worth pointing out and celebrating here.) Most importantly, the song is not only about the relationship between granddaughter and grandma, as most of the album is, but makes that relationship seem tender and poignant. Grandma is reminiscing about Eleanor’s transformation from a child to a young woman who dyed her hair and dated two Kevins. (Or as grandma says: “You mean two JERKS!” ) It’s the only time on the album their relationship seems to have as much depth, and it’s the only time when the music augments the story in any way shape or form.

“Slavin’ Away” is another nice song with a guitar riff and key progression that would actually seem at home on Blueberry Boat. And what does it have in common with “The Wayfaring Granddaughter”? Eleanor takes the lead on vocals and muppet-grandma takes a breather. This isn’t so much a knock on grandma, okay, yes it is, but also a tremendous compliment to Eleanor. For my money, she’s one of the more interesting vocalists going, taking notes from Mark E. Smith on speak-singing over gloomy dirges, minus the slurred speach. (Except Matthew’s dirges here sound more like retarded b-sides to the Who’s Tommy than anything the Fall ever recorded.) Her ability to carry a melody through some of her brother’s mucky arrangements on this record is nothing short of breathtaking and one of the only reasons I can think of to revisit parts of the album.

Theoretically, I can still admire the experimental edge that courses through the Fiery Furnace’s music. Theoretically, I like dissonance in my music. I can acknowledge that Blueberry Boat was a Herculean feat that excuses an experimental follow-up album, even if that follow-up falls flat on its face. But in reality, I don’t think I will ever listen to this album all the way through ever again.

As some sort of cruel joke, my mp3 program accidentally started playing the wonderful tumbling keyboard riff of Gallowsbird Bark’s “The South is Only a Home” at the end of one of my tortured listens to Rehearsing My Choir. It was a jarring shift. Oh how far you’ve gone in two short years, Fieries. Come back. (Sean Ford)

Kingblind Downloads

Django Reinhardt – Douce Ambiance
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Pink Floyd:: BBC Archives
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Happy Birthday Boss:: Live Springsteen
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Yeah Yeah Yeah’s mixing new album

New York rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs are hoping to have their second Interscope album mixed and mastered by next month, according to a post from frontwoman Karen O on the fan site Yeah Yeah Yeahs Bang. “There is no record title yet and we’ve been busy getting our new Web site and merch store up,” she wrote of the set, which is being mixed in London by Alan Moulder and group member Nick Zinner and is expected to be released in the spring. “Everything should start coming to place and revealing itself in the fall and winter months of this year.” The vocalist added that “songs to be included on the new album include ‘Cheated Hearts’ and ‘Honey Bear.’ All the rest are new tracks. Some older tracks such as ‘Down Boy,’ [may be] used in a special EP but only MAYBE.

Kingblind Downloads

V/A:: John Peel:: A Tribute
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Various Artists – Austin City Limits Music Festival 2004-2005
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Various Artists – A Tribute To REM
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Animal Collective:: Feels (Album Review)

Although I didn’t love the Animal Collective the first time that I heard them, they were one of those groups that burrowed their way into my very consciousness with their sort of primal, almost tribal folk musings. It didn’t matter that their vocals were nonsensical and/or indecipherable, or that they would occasionally lapse into extended trips that are probably meant to be enjoyed (more) with mind-altering substances, they seemed to capture many of those intangibles that make me love music outright. As time has progressed, the group has seemingly gotten better with each release, and their Sung Tongs release was my favorite album of last year.

Needless to say, I was ready to approach Feels with a bit of trepidation, as I do with any release by a group that follows something that I consider downright essential. In my many years of listening to music, I’ve been let down far too many times after expecting follow-up releases to always best their great predecessor. Whereas Sung Tongs was mainly the work of two musicians, Feels finds Animal Collective joined by more of their regular members and the resulting sound is more expansive as well.

In fact, Feels is easily the most melodic and dense work from the group yet. If their previous album was the result of the group taking acoustic instrumentation to odd realms, then this newest effort finds them doing that and then some, bring in electric guitars, a great use of piano, more effects, and of course a whole slew of vocal melodies. One could argue that it’s the most melodic work from the group yet, and it gets going from the start with “Did You See The Words.” Starting quietly, the track layers some tinkling piano melodies and strummy reverbed guitar chords before the vocals burst forth and a rhythm sets the track in motion. As the track progresses, it continues to build steam, with percussion getting louder, vocal melodies and harmonies getting more complex, and full-on washes of sound layering on top of one another. “Grass” follows, and it’s even more triumphant as shimmering electronics blend with pounding drums and shimmery guitars while the vocals start out almost Beach Boys style before rupturing into yelling, explosive sections that turn the track into a cathartic freakout that you can’t help but want to scream along with.

From there, the group takes things down a notch with the spacey “Flesh Canoe” before launching into “The Purple Bottle,” which is easily a contender for my favorite song of the entire year. Bursting out of the gate with raucous drums, hilarious sing-along vocals (that seem to perfectly capture the giddy and weird beginnings of a relationship) and hazy guitar jangling, the track morphs several times during its almost seven minute running length and never seems to run out of ideas or get saggy in the slightest bit. By the time the group reaches the closing section (which blends dense washes of gorgeous melodies with sharp punctuated bursts) and finally winds down, you feel like skipping straight back to the beginning to hear it all over again. From there out, the album drifts off into more heady material that isn’t always quite as invigorating, but at the very least it’s still more melodic and textural than past work the group has done.

“Banshee Beat” (which is perhaps a bit of misnomer given the musical content of the track) floats along on beautiful layers of guitar, processed sound and some subtle drumming and vocals, and while it never gets much louder than a slightly-quickened heartbeat, it works like a charm. At almost eight minutes, “Daffy Duck” is the only track on the disc that really lacks any sort of tension or wonderment (it has nice moments, but nothing that hasn’t been achieved in greater effect on other tracks). The release closes with the wondrous “Turn Into Something” and the rollicking piece alternately strums and soars, layering dense washes of sounds and even more playful vocal melodies. So, despite one slightly soft spot, Feels is yet another album on which the Animal Collective changes their sound even further and succeeds on just about every attempt. A glorious, noisy, melodic, celebratory release from the ever-inventive group.

The First Music Video Filmed Entirely Using Cellphones

The new video from the Seattle power-pop band The Presidents of the United States of America was shot entirely using an array of Sony Ericsson cellphones. The song is a Weezer-ish tune called “Some Postman,” and the video was directed by the Australian filmmaker Grant Marshall. CLICK HERE TO VIEW Requires Quicktime

MORE INFO ON THE VIDEO:
Australian production company, Film Headquarters has made an innovative music video for the Presidents of the United States of America, for their Australian single “Some Postman”. This is the first music video in the world to be shot using mobile phones.

“Some Postman” is currently on Australia’s Channel V (as “Clip of the Week” last week), ABC, Rage, Video Hits, VH1 and national and regional radio networks as the band prepare to launch their album “Love Everybody” in Australia in October, backed up by an Australian tour.

The music video was filmed in Seattle in just one day using a plethora of Sony Ericsson mobile video phones. The content was then blue–toothed to a Mac and composed like a jigsaw puzzle to form the basis of the edit.

The director of the video, Grant Marshall from Film Headquarters, said he was very excited when Presidents of the USA agreed to this idea. He came up with the idea after the company’s creative team lamented how budgets for Australian music videos were far lower than those for international clips. Producer Nick Wolff said “We joked that budgets were getting so small that the next thing we’d be doing is shooting on a mobile phone.”

Which is exactly what they did.

“We came up with this idea 18 months ago but couldn’t find a band that would embrace the risk and vision. PUSA loved the concept and were brave enough to undertake the risk. This was a fantastic experience for all of us. The band was fabulous,” he added.

“The result is great and the look reminiscent of the movies available on Quicktime in the 90s. The funniest part of the shoot was to see a mobile phone sitting on a tripod-it’s quite a sight. With mobile phone camera resolutions doubling every few years, people will probably look back and say this idea was ‘so 2005’,” said Mr Marshall.

During the production of the music video, over 12 angles were pieced together to make up one composition or shot. The footage recorded by the phones was 1/3000 the quality of standard broadcast. The majority of the footage was shot with the band performing at half time as the phones could not handle the quick movements and as a result, could be blocky and compressed. The format used by the phone camera is 3gp.

White Stripes:: LIVE 6/24/05

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Silver Jews:: Tanglewood Numbers (Album Review)

This last summer I finally managed to devote the necessary time to trying to understand, or at least appreciate, Bob Dylan. I tried to avoid the big names (Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Nashville Skyline) and instead spent weeks listening to New Morning, Desire, and Slow Train Coming. I read Chronicles, Vol. 1 and tried to understand where he was coming from as I listened to The Freewheeling Bob Dylan and John Wesley Harding. What struck me most is how, over the course of 14 years (1962-1976), Dylan managed to not only create a good half-dozen of the best album ever recorded, but also totally reinvent folk music.

Earlier this year, Rolling Stone put forth the theory that Connor Oberst is the heir-apparent to Dylan’s poet-singer throne. It’s a ridiculous supposition. First, because there’s no need for such an heir; Dylan’s albums hold up just fine, thank you. Second, Oberst is a whiny little punk from Omaha without a quarter the creative drive or genius of Dylan. Third, we already have Dave Berman.

I’m not arguing that Berman’s music is really all that related to that of Dylan (even if they are both poets), or even that the two musicians exist in similar musical realms, but rather that at some basic level of songwriting and personal expression, they’re operating on a similar plane. Berman, along with Stephen Malkmus and a few others, help pioneer the ’90s concept of “indie rock,” but did it as an extension of country music rather than the punk that many of his peers were using. Dylan saved rock by mining folk music while starving his way through New York City in the early ‘60s. He emerged from the decade not entirely unscathed and then went on to make Desire and Blood on the Tracks, two of my favorites, with an entirely different take on music and songwriting. And now it seems that Berman has conquered at least some of his demons (and addictions) and hits 2005 wth one of his strongest and most focused albums to date, Tanglewood Numbers.

The history of the Silver Jews makes this a hard statement to justify. Over the course of their four previous albums (and The Arizona Record) Berman and his ever-shifting cast of backing musicians have made the Silver Jews the best indie rock band that no one ever paid enough attention to. Malkmus’s involvement in the band was always something of a mixed blessing, bringing both his nearly unparalleled guitar chops but also critical attention which was too quick to deal with the band as little more than a Pavement side-project. Both the beautifully lo-fi Starlite Walker and the indie classic American Water live up to anything Malkmus’s other band ever managed, and even the two lesser known albums have a magic of their own (misstep though The Natural Bridge may have been).

All the albums have their own personality, ranging from the gleeful guitar twiddling of American Water to the quiet acoustic approach for Bright Flight. Still, coming charging out of the gates with “Punks in the Beerlight,” Tanglewood Numbers is something of a surprise. None of the previous Silver Jews outings really prepare you for the raw energy and hunger of the track. Will Oldham rides a gloomy rhythm guitar under Malkmus’s searing lead, letting Berman, who sounds a good 10 years older than he did on Bright Flight, let loose with the remorseful “if we had known what it takes to get here / would we have chosen to?” It’s a far more bombastic song than we’ve come to expect from the Silver Jews, but then again this is a far more aggressive (and talented) group than have performed on any of the previous records. Most importantly, Berman’s trademark sloppy romanticism is still at the core, just now concerned with tales of “burnouts in love” and unironic declarations that he “always loved you to the max.” It’s a love song for someone who doesn’t particularly want to be in love, but who’s willing to run with it.

The group really never lets up from there—the band is always attacking and playing for keeps. There are plenty of great Berman songs that feel like they could have been so much better if only he had been playing with a really determined band (“The Frontier Index,” “Ballad of a Reverend War Character,” or even “Pretty Eyes”), and now that he’s got it he’s sure as hell gonna use it. The involvement of Cassie Marrett, Berman’s wife, is sure to draw criticism from some quarters, but she’s not only more than qualified as a singer, but it’s also silly to carp on it as she plays such an integral role in both Berman’s life and songwriting.

If anything, Marrett lends a degree of sweetness to songs that would otherwise come off as more than a bit juvenile (“How Can I Love You (if You Won’t Lie Down)”). Of course the Silver Jews never had that uncaring veneer of cool that Malkmus fostered, lending Berman’s country-tinged romantic songwriting an emotional depth that Pavement never really achieved, even with the silly songs. Tracks like the beautiful alt-country “Animal Shapes,” the clever “I’m Getting Back into Getting Back into You,” and the blazingly hard closer “There is a Place” see Berman at his songwriting peak, honing the fine line between wit and emotional honesty. On that last song, he reflects on the years leading up to Tanglewood Numbers with the perfectly simple, “there is a place past the blues / I never want to see again.” Tanglewood Numbers is the first time we’ve ever really heard him growl his lines so authoritatively, but here he nails it.

On “I’m Getting Back,” he sounds resigned to his fate when he sings “I’ve been working at the airport bar / it’s like Christmas in a submarine”, while on the sad-sack “K-Hole” he expresses his loss in the form of “I’d rather live in a trashcan / than see you happy with another man / closed sign swinging in the window of the liquor store.” His political bent on the record is hard to avoid either, letting loose on “Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed” with the vicious and absurd couplet: “how does an animal sleep once the sun has set / bandits in the capital limiting civilian unrest.”

Counting Berman out is a bad idea. He’s clearly not quitting anytime soon, and indeed these days he seems more ambitious than ever. At a time when the sort of lo-fi, ‘90s slacker indie rock that he played such a pivotal role in building is now a few years past death rattle, it seems only appropriate that he should come back now with something new. He has moved on, playing by his own rules, with an immensely talented group of musicians, and the results are just as good as anything he’s previously managed. (Peter Hepburn)

Kingblind Downloads

T-REX:: Electric Warrior (Password: sonic)
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Various Artists – Halloween & Scary Sound Effects
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The Ramones:: Too tough to die
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Gang Of Four:: Return the Gift (Album Review)

The latest album from the original Go4 lineup is a nostalgic look at the group’s best songs, as re-worked and updated for 2005. It’s no secret that the band was somewhat displeased with the finished product of their classic, Entertainment!. Guitarist Andy Gill has mentioned, “The drums sounded wrong on that record. It didn’t reflect what we were like live.” In theory, this sounds awesome: agreat band with great material pushing themselves further so that their songs reach maximum potential. So why doesn’t it actually sound awesome?

The problem is simply that Gang of Four got Entertainment! right the first time, whether they like it or not. The staccato, tinny drums and angular guitar spurts give the album a timeless appeal, one that has not been duplicated since (try as Franz Ferdinand, et al., might). These elements were left on the cutting floor for Return the Gift, which opts for louder, denser instrumentations.

This can be observed most tragically in the opening notes of “Natural’s Not In It,” where the perfectly stripped guitar intro of the original has been fuzzed up ad infinitum for 2005. The actual notes may be the same length, but the distortion has been turned up and an echo effect has been added, transforming the dance punk anthem into something the Darkness might use to open an outer space rock opera. In their attempt to update this timeless song, Go4 have actually made it sound outdated.

The same smearing is evident on “Damaged Goods,” “Ether,” and the rest of the songs from Entertainment!, which have the furthest to fall. These songs aren’t bad – in fact they are still pretty good by today’s standards – but listening to them makes you want to hear the original version instead. Not much has been changed here, and the substitutions that have been made only serve to make the songs sound overblown where they were once understated.

There are some moments when the new material does add something interesting: “Why Theory?” from Solid Gold is still appropriately edgy and peculiar, the guitars on “What We All Want” gain from the album’s overall boost in volume. The narration from “Anthrax” is more audible on Return the Gift, and it is easier to hear what’s being talked about in the background: “This is an archeology exercise really/going back in time to figure out what these people were.” With its wisdom, it’s an appreciated side note to the motivations behind Return the Gift.

I should also mention that the album is being released in a few different formats: a single-disc version for U.S. release and a 2-disc set for the U.K., with disc 2 being remakes of the Return the Gift tracks by alliterative bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Hot Hot Heat. I haven’t heard these songs at all, but I expect that the remixes will be the real draw to the album. I’m really curious to hear what Tony Kanal does with “Ether”, because I’m sure it will substantially differ from Go4’s own remake. The crisp dollar bill that comes in the 2-disc packaging might further persuade you to plop down the cash for the import. Even after the disappointment of disc 1, I’ll probably pay to get the full experience myself, but unless you’re curious, single-disc version can safely be avoided. (Reviewed by Andy Brown)

Kingblind Downloads

Frank Black Francis:: This monkey’s gone heaven
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Linda Perry:: Freeway
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Echo and the Bunnymen:: Sibera
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Jack White to be father

Jack White is reportedly set to become a father next June after he revealed his wife Karen Elson is carrying the couples first baby.

Apparently the White Stripes front man made the announcement to friends and family in Detroit last weekend after a gig at the cities Masonic Temple.

White married the British model four months ago in a ceremony on the Amazon river after meeting her while filming the video for ‘Blue Orchid’.

The White Stripes release their next single ‘The Denial Twist’ on November 14. They are touring the UK in November, the dates are:

London, Hammersmith Apollo – November 5-6
London, Alexandra Palace – 8-9
Blackpool, Empress Ballroom – 10-11
Glasgow, Academy – 13, 15
Manchester, Apollo – 17

Kingblind Downloads

Husker Du – Zen Arcade
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Local H – Live As The Doors
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Elliott Smith: 1997-09-07, New York
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Massive Attack plan ‘gothic soul’ album

The follow-up to ’100th Window’ is in the works. Massive Attack plan to release the follow-up to ’100th Window’ next year.

Mainman Robert 3-D Del Naja has been in the studio this year working on songs for the follow-up to their last album, released in 2003.

Writing recently online, 3-D said the new record has a “gothic soul direction”, and five songs are nearing completion.

He said: “Been a fertile year. Lots of new recordings and talented people been in and out of our studio which has become home now. I have been trying out new and old techniques and have come up with a new gothic soul direction.

“We have recorded vocals on about 5 tracks and have vocals to put down on at least 15 before Xmas, which is drawing horrifically close.”

Guest vocalists include longtime collaborators Horace Andy and Liz Frazer, Beth Orton and Terry Callier.

He concluded: “Thinking ahead to the tour, (we) will make changes as every other super group has bitten the hell out of the 100th Window’ experience.”

Kingblind Downloads

Yo La Tengo:: Fakebook
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Broadcast:: work and non work
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Wallace And Gromit – The Curse of the Were Rabbit
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John Peel’s record collection to stay within family

The vast collection will not be going to the British Library

John Peel’s record collection is to stay within the family, putting an end to speculation that the vast catalogue would go to the British Library.

The late DJ’s widow Sheila Ravenscroft has said that the records “are John” and that it would be “just awful” to part with them.

She explained: “At the moment, I’ve no intention of doing anything with his records. The records here are John and I can’t imagine how we all would feel if, for whatever reason, they were suddenly removed from us. It would be just awful.

“At the moment, it makes us feel rather good that they’re all here. And we play them.”

However, Ravenscroft told the BBC World Service that there would be a day when the family would have to give them up.

She said: “I’ve got to be realistic and I know that there will be some period when we’ve got to say ‘Come on, be sensible’, because there’s no way we can play them all or appreciate them all. But it won’t be happening yet.”

Peel’s record collection is estimated to include around 26,000 vinyl LPs, 40,000 singles and 40,000 CDs.

The first anniversary of Peel’s death is on October 25 and his autobiography, ‘Margrave Of The Marshes’, has just been published in the UK.

The book was completed by his widow and their four children as Peel had only written part of it at the time of his death.

Ravenscroft said that the process was “rather nice and rather comforting,” adding: “There were times when we all felt it was absolutely wonderful for us to be doing it. We were almost worried about how we were going to feel when it was finished because it was almost going to be like letting go.”

She said that it was also “extremely upsetting” at times, explaining: “All it took was for one of us to stop and think seriously about what it was we were doing, and more importantly why it was we were having to do it, that we’d all get incredibly sad.”

The family gave each other homework of reading diaries and old magazine articles, Ravenscroft said. “Then every few weeks we’d all get back together again round the kitchen table.”

‘Margrave Of The Marshes’ documents Peel’s life, including lesser-known episodes such as his sexual abuse at public school and his encounters with future US presidents John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. (via NME)

Radiohead Feeling Prolific In The Studio

Radiohead recorded a “song a day” last week in its Oxfordshire, U.K., studio, and is planning to spend this week putting ideas on tape before breaking until December. The group’s as-yet-untitled seventh studio album is expected next year; as previously reported, its contract with longtime label EMI has expired. According to a post from bassist Colin Greenwood on the band’s Web site, there is also “exciting talk of shows next year. It’s good to have a plan.” Among the songs that appear on the studio blackboard as having been attempted are “Pay Day,” “Burn the Witch,” “Videotape,” “Solutions,” “House of Cards,” “Down Is the New Up,” “Last Flowers,” “Skirting on the Surface” and “Morning Mi Lord.” “The blackboard [is] filling up with ideas,” frontman Thom Yorke wrote recently. “Lots of things happening all over the studio at once, which I always like, although I keep having to remind myself to sit down occasionally.”

Sonic Youth Moving On Without O’Rourke

Sonic Youth will record its next studio album without the aid of multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke, who has been part of the band on stage and in the studio since 2002′s “Murray Street.” Guitarist Lee Ranaldo said O’Rourke is planning to devote his full energies to his own recording projects as well as forays into film.

“Jim is going through a lot of different stuff personally and about where he sees his future,” Ranaldo says. “He’s really interested in pursuing stuff outside the musical arena, particularly film work. Not necessarily soundtrack work, but making films and getting involved in that community.”

“There was never any kind of binding agreement with us,” he continues. “We want what is best for him. That’s not to say either individually some of us won’t continue to work with him, or that in a group setting he won’t ever be involved again. But for the next phase though, we’re developing all this new material without him. He won’t be involved in the production.”

Ranaldo says Sonic Youth has about nine songs in the hopper for a new album, which will likely be recorded early next year. Asked to describe the material, he offers, “It’s always hard to say at this point. It hasn’t taken on its own life yet. Some of it seems to be an extension of the last couple of records, but some hearkens forward into territory and also back to earlier, more dissonant and atonal stuff we’ve done. There’s definitely some rocking songs and also some sound piece-y kind of things that are pretty interesting as well.”

The group has a handful of international shows on tap this fall and has also begun assembling a retrospective that will be launched next year in Vienna to celebrate its 25th anniversary. “It will be centered around us and the visual artists we’ve worked with,” Ranaldo says. “After Vienna, it will tour the world in four or six venues for the next two years. It will be an extensive show, probably with a performance series.”

Sonic Youth oversaw the recent release of an expanded edition of its 1990 major-label debut, “Goo,” which Ranaldo describes as “a return to more under control song forms, after the sprawl of [its 1988 predecessor] ‘Daydream Nation.’ It was a record of songs again. That pendulum has swung back and forth throughout our whole career. Some people took it as our bid to become more commercial, and ‘Kool Thing’ was indeed on the radio. But it was really just the natural course of events for us.”

The hope is to next offer an expanded edition of “Daydream Nation,” but Ranaldo is unsure “whether we have enough extra material of the right fidelity to make it work. I hope it will fly, because that would be a great one.”

Meanwhile, Sonic Youth recently recovered two of the guitars that were famously stolen from the band along with a trailer full of gear in July 1999 in Orange County, Calif. The hand-off was facilitated by two young men Ranaldo says weren’t parties to the crime but are “connected to one of the people involved in the heist,” possibly by family relation.

“They look like they’ve been through World War III,” Ranaldo says of the guitars. “They’ve been repainted several times and the pickups were practically hanging by the wires. They were in really messed up shape, but we’re happy to have them back, and they’ll come back to life in the care of our crew guys.” (via billboard)

Kingblind Album Giveaway:: Oranger- “Here comes and goes” CONTEST OVER!!

Kingblind is giving away 3 signed copies of the new Oranger release “Here Comes and Goes” in stores now.. US residents only please. You wanna win?? No Problem..

Just send and email to kingblind (at) gmail.com With ORANGER in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the message.. That’s it! SOOO EASY.. 3 winners will be picked randomly.. GOOD LUCK!

As Oranger just released their 4th full length, “New Comes and Goes “the
band discovers it’s at its strongest when it does what it knows best-playing
rock music irreverent of time and place. Hitting the studio after only a few rehearsals and the lyrics still being drafted during the vocal sessions, the strategy was to make an irreverent rock n roll record that would translate well on stage. The result was right on target, and they are in the midst of a tour with the Posies to prove it! If you haven’t already checked out the brand new album that came out
September 20th, here’s your chance to win a signed copy of it!

“Crones” MP3

“Crooked in the Weird of the Catacombs” MP3

Oranger e-card

On Tour now with the Posies!
10/13/05 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge (2721 Larimer St.)
10/14/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Velvet Room (155 W. 200 St.)
10/15/05 – Boise, ID @ Bourbon St. (416 S. 9th St.)
10/18/05 – Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s (136 E. 11th St.)
10/19/05 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir (830 E. Burnside)
10/20/05 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s (925 E. Pike St.)
10/22/05 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent (628 Divisadero St.) – CD RELEASE
PARTY! w/o Posies

Merge Signs GBV’s Robert Pollard

Former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard has signed a new deal with Merge Records, which will on Jan. 26 issue a double-disc album, “From a Compound Eye.” Pollard will continue to release projects on his own Fading Captain imprint but that future solo releases under his name will go through Merge. Pollard previously said that “From a Compound Eye” has “all four P’s: pop, punk, prog and psychedelic.” The 26-track project was recorded at frequent GBV outpost Waterloo Sound in Kent, Ohio. Although the itinerary is not yet finalized, Pollard will mount his first post-GBV tour around the release of “From a Compound Eye” with a band of notable musicians to be determined. Sources also say the artist has Fading Captain projects with three different groups in the works for 2006.

Kingblind.com Album Giveaway :: Abandoned Pools (CONTEST OVER!!)

Kingblind.com is giving away 3 copies of the new album “Armed to the Teeth” from Abandoned Pools… Here is all you have to do.. Send an email with ABANDONED POOLS in the SUBJECT LINE and YOUR NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS TO: kingblind (at) gmail dot com We will randomly pick 3 winners .. Good luck !!

ABOUT ABANDONED POOLS:
Abandoned Pools’ new album “Armed To The Teeth” was produced by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Interpol, Clinic, Erasure and Einstürzende Neubauten) and mixed by Ken Andrews (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Failure, Year of the Rabbit). “Armed to the Teeth,” once again showcasing frontman Tommy Walter’s ability to combine the macro and the micro, contrasting his despair with the world situation and his own personal heartbreak. Featuring holdover drummer Bryan Head and guitarist Sean Woolstenhulme, the band’s songs include “Armed to the Teeth,” about “the way people wield their power by how they consume and spend their money,” whose slashing guitars and dance rhythms evoke the likes of U2 and Joy Division. “Sooner or Later” suggests a world on the edge of destruction, its layers of sound easing toward apocalypse with lyrics like “I’ve got my finger/On trigger.” Walter takes a crunching, grunge-rock approach to his cover of Bjork’s “Army of Me,” while “The Catalyst” (“I wish I could say something beautiful/To make you fall in love again”) and the Coldplay jangle of “Waiting to Panic” (“I’m thinking/My head is exploding”) both deal with the regret in the aftermath of a relationship gone awry.
The new album is in stores now, Download the title track: “Armed To The Teeth”
CLICK TO LISTEN

Kingblind Downloads

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I See a Darkness
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Antony and The Johnsons – I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy EP
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Arcade Fire:: Christmas Album
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Deerhoof:: The Runners Four (Album Review)

It’s heartening to see Deerhoof, a hardworking and resolutely idiosyncratic star in the indie rock firmament, continue on such a jag of creative, critical and (relative) commercial success. The San Francisco quartet’s good fortune puts one in the mind of Sonic Youth – a rare band of weirdos that actually manages to take off on the wings of a charmed meritocracy. Ambient and direct, childlike and adult, hard-rocking and unapologetically esoteric – Deerhoof’s play of elemental opposites is not a new concept, but perhaps they have found a new playing-out of its possibilities. Their new The Runners Four doesn’t rewrite their instantly recognizable sound. Hints of The Beatles still poke around the bright, sunshine-and-children’s-book imagery of vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki; monster drums still crash against wheezing organ clusters and raw, 1960′s power chords. But the heavier prog-rock leanings of some of their earlier albums are leavened on Runners by the milder temperament of pop songs and widened by an atmosphere of open-minded reflection over chaotic exultation. All told, it’s another triumph for a band whose creative peak seems to defy gravity with each passing year.
(Dominic DeLuce)

Kingblind Downloads

John Cale – Seducing Down The Door: A Collection 1970-1990
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NOFX:: Greatest Hits
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dungen 10-08-2005 chicago (early show)
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Okkervil River: audio & video
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My Morning Jacket:: Z (Album Review)

Some wags would argue that deep-fried shoegazers My Morning Jacket have never really known restraint—The Tennessee Fire, At Dawn, and It Still Moves were just as likely to feature a finely wrought, time-sensitive vignette (“Bermuda Highway”) as they were a seemingly endless rumination on lost love (“Steam Engine”). But with Z, the woolly Jim James and his merry band of bluegrass rock fusionists tighten their belts and reduce their musical vocabulary to its very essence—Z is the group’s first album to clock in at less than 60 minutes. Dialing down the reverb and allowing more wide-ranging influences to show through, My Morning Jacket fashions a messy, transitory record that’s head-over-heels giddy, curiously experimental, and patently weird in equal measure. From the kinetic “What A Wonderful Man” to the eerily beautiful LSD carnival waltz of “Into The Woods,” James sounds unburdened and alive, which isn’t discounting his vitality prior to Z, but merely suggesting that the plaintive troubadour who crooned about lonely factories and misplaced affection might be a far cry from the man letting loose reckless, airplane hangar war whoops during “Wordless Chorus.” Devotees of the ’70s AM pop/echo chamber psychedelia smeared all over these Kentuckian’s recorded output to date might initially flinch at Z’s intentions, but just when you think the Jacket’s gone all raw and frayed, erasing clear-eyed emotion from the equation, a startlingly graceful left hook, “Knot Comes Loose,” glides in, a barroom-frequenting, pedal steel-riding angel to remind you of the boys’ inescapable whiskey-stained soul. Having slipped into the mainstream with 2003′s It Still Moves, James and company sound as though they’ve got all the validation they need to continue forging ahead into the cosmos, like some kind of hick Arcade Fire. (Preston Jones)

Kingblind news that you can use

Stream 3 new albums from Dim Mak
Dim Mak Records has posted full streams of three of their recent releases. You can click here to find full streams of Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm Remixed, Neon Blonde’s Chandeliers in the Savannah, and From Monument to Masses’s Schools of Thought Contend. All three were released this past September 13th. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

White Stripes Coming To The Daily Show
Jack and Meg White will give the Comedy Central program’s first ever musical performance on 12/1. “We’ve never had a musical performance on the show before – not because we haven’t wanted one – but because we were holding out for a reunited Spandau Ballet. This will have to suffice,” Jon says in the press release. Can’t wait to hear what Meg has to say about Judith Miller.

NY Dolls coming to DVD
Proto-punk act, The New York Dolls, who recently reunited on the urging of Morrissey, will soon release the DVD All Dolled Up on December 6, 2005 through Music Video Distributors.

The label describes the disc:
In the early 70′s, Rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya purchased a portable video recorder. In a period of three years, they shot over 40 hours of New York Dolls footage. Now for the first time ever, this footage is unveiled. The feature length documentary follows the band from their early performances in New York at such clubs as Kenny’s Castaways, and Max’s Kansas City. It also documents their West Coast tour and includes footage from the Whisky-A-Go-Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer’s E Club, and more. Inter cut with revealing interviews, backstage banter, and late night debauchery, The band recently signed to Roadrunner Records. The proto-punk act will soon begin work on a new full length with an expected 2006 release date.

New York Dolls: All Dolled Up

1. Human Being
2. Bad Detective
3. Subway Train
4. Personality Crisis
5. Trash
6. Vietnamese Baby
7. Lookin For A Kiss
8. Jet Boy
9. Who Are The Mystery Girls
10. Private World
11. I’m A Hoochie Koochie Man
12. Great Big Kiss
13. Babylon
14. Frankenstein
15. Chatterbox
16. Pirate Love
17. Down Down Downtown
18. Pills

Bonus Materials: Full Performances of 12 songs, Extensive Bob Gruen Photo Gallery with Narrative, Interview with Bob Gruen conducted by Handsome Dick Manitoba, Deluxe 16-Page Photo Booklet, Bob Gruen Director’s Commentary, and Outtakes

Kingblind Downloads

Babyshambles live at 333 Club – 01/03/05
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Quintet (Parker, Gillespie, Powell, Mingus, Roach) – Jazz At Massey Hall
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Diamond Nights: “The Girl’s Attractive”
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Wolf Parade:: Apologies To The Queen Mary (Album Review)

Yes, Isaac Brock discovered them and brought them to Sub Pop. Yes, he produced their debut album. And, yes, they sound like Modest Mouse. But there’s more: Wolf Parade are good. No, they’re really good. How can a band sound a lot like another band, a one-of-a-kind one at that, and come away making you forget it matters? By being themselves. And this doesn’t always mean trying to make something brand new. For the members of Wolf Parade — vocalist/guitarist Dan Boeckner, keyboardist/electronics manipulator Hadji Bakara, keyboardist/vocalist Spencer King and drummer Arlen Thompson — this means being honest about who they and what their inspirations are. And if anything translates into good music, it’s honesty. Clearly, Modest Mouse inspired Wolf Parade’s debut album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, but the Montreal band expressed enough true emotion on their album and have enough unique talent to make you forget all about Modest Mouse. From the first few seconds of the album, you’re hooked. The hard drumming, so precise and heavy, beckons you to march in tune on opening track “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son” before it transitions into guitar feedback and distorted electronics. “Grounds for Divorce” most recalls Modest Mouse for Boeckner’s Brock-like vocals, which cascade to hiccuping heights over spastic rhythms, ringing guitar and beats that chug like an oxygen machine on overdrive. “Dinner Bells” is a sleepy, slow-paced track carried by a steady simple beat, gentle, ringing guitar, an occasional flute whistle and Boeckner’s strained, brokenhearted yelp: “There’ll be no more dinner bells/ Dinner bells to ring,” he sings, sounding worn and weary. The aptly titled closer “This Hearts on Fire” is the most emotional track on Apologies with its fevered builds, swift, pumping beats, and impassioned chorus with Boeckner so fired up it sounds like his voice got beat up and scratchy in the process. “It’s getting better all the time,” he sings fervently, “It’s getting better all the time.” Play Wolf Parade again — you’ll most definitely want to — and you’ll see it certainly is. (by Jenny Tatone)

Kingblind Downloads

John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Unfinished Music No. 2 Life With The Lions
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Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Outtake Sessions
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V/A:: Posh Boy Punk Sampler
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Dungen:: Panda
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GLUECIFER ANNOUNCE FINAL SHOW EVER!!

Gluecifer has been invited by Little Steven to do a final gig in NYC Oct.28. The show will be the last Gluecifer show ever, and the band is really happy to finish their carreer in one of their favorite cities. Rocket from the crypt will be on the same bill, and they are doing their last eastcoast show as well. In other words, this is a legendary evening you don´t wanna miss. Hard Rock Times Square, Friday 28/10. Get your tickets HERE

Iron and Wine / Calexico:: In the Reins (Album Review)

Calexico and Iron and Wine’s collaborative EP begins in exactly the way you’d imagine it — as though Sam Beam has overdubbed himself onto Calexico’s last record, Feast Of Wire. It’s almost disappointing in its predictability. But that disappointment lasts only for a minute. Then the surprises start coming. The title track features a downright bizarre mariachi singer interlude. There’s a Stax-style horn section on “A History Of Lovers.” And “Burn That Broken Bed” has a psychedelic, double-tracked trumpet part that sounds eerily similar to something Miles Davis might have played sometime in the mid-70s. While In The Reins bears the unmistakable imprint of both Calexico and Iron and Wine, these collaborators don’t seem to be interested in playing it all that safe. Clocking in at just under a half hour, the main complaint to be made is that it’s all too brief. Let’s hope that this EP is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (Tyler Wilcox)

Kingblind Downloads

The High Strung:: A Real Meal Ticket
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Ladytron:: Destroy Everything
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The Tom Collins:: Back of your mind
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Morrissey names next album

Morrissey next album is to be called ‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’, and is set for completion in a matter of weeks. According to internet rumours, production on the record has been undertaken by Tony Visconti, who is currently recording in Rome with the former Smiths singer. Work on ‘The Ringleader Of The Tormentors’ is expected to be wrapped up by November 1. “Jeff Saltzman, who was originally named as producer, could not undertake the project,” Morrissey fansite true-to-you.net reports. “The album is engineered by Marco Origel, who is from the San Francisco area.” They add: “‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’ will be released on Attack early in 2006. Morrissey is delighted with the album which he describes as ‘The most beautiful – perhaps the most gentle so far.” Visconti is most famous for his work with David Bowie and T-Rex. ‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’ follows Morrissey’s 2004 comeback album ‘You Are The Quarry’.

Franz Ferdinand:: You Could Have It So Much Better (Album Review)

We build then up, then knock them down. It’s the English way. Even as Franz Ferdinand were taking on all-comers last year, you could almost hear the critics sharpening their pencils, thinking ‘ah, but just wait till their second album…’. It’s easy to forget now just how startling their debut album was, back when every other band sounded a pale imitation of Coldplay. Now, of course, in a world of Bloc Parties and Rakes and where even The Fire Engines are making a comeback, we’re all art-rockers now. So how do Franz negotiate that notorious ‘difficult second album’? Can they perform that fine balancing act between giving casual fans more of the same while showing signs of musical development and evolution? It takes just over a minute into You Could Have It So Much Better to realise that they’ve pulled it off with some style. The Fallen begins with one of those now trademark Franz Ferdinand guitar riffs before Alex Kapronos sends out a call to arms for the troubled and dispossessed who “rob a supermarket or two…well, who gives a damn for the profits of Tesco”. As the song skids into one of the catchiest chorus you’ll hear all year, you’ll have to stop yourself punching the air in joy. The fact that The Fallen is then followed by the delirious stomp of the single Do You Want To before diving headfirst into the glorious rush of This Boy (featuring Kapronos hollering like a particularly demented joyrider “I want a car”) means that the first three tracks of the album are a more effective wake up call than a double expresso. After such a strong opening it’s inevitable that the album starts to sag a bit in the middle, with both Evil And A Heathen and You’re The Reason I’m Leaving sounding a bit too formulaic for comfort. There are encouraging signs of progression on the album though – Walk Away recalls Kraftwerk in its introduction, while Eleanor Put Your Boots On (presumably dedicated to Kapronos’ girlfriend Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces) is a lovely, woozy nursery rhyme of a song, totally different to anything they’ve done before. Fade Together even addresses that much levelled accusation that the band lack emotion – it’s a wistful piano ballad with Kapronos in fine voice. “Once you have loved someone this much, you doubt it could fade” he croons, and when he sings “Oh God, you are so far away” you can almost hear his voice crack. It’s one of the most touching and surprising moments on the album. Lest we forget though that Franz Ferdinand make “guitar music for girls to dance to” and there’s no shortage of that here, together with that clever twist that make them so irrestiable to listen to. Well That Was Easy employs all manner of tempo changes and 100mph guitars, while I’m Your Villain is your classic Franz disco stomper, certain to appeal to everyone who fell in love with Take Me Out. So will this be enough to stem the Franz Ferdinand backlash? Possibly not – Kapronos’ lyrics sometimes raise an unintentional giggle (“If I like cocaine, I’m racing you, for organic fresh Echinacea” in This Boy) and some songs do tend to sound rather too similar for their own good. Yet overall, this is far outweighed by the album’s plus points – the deliciously lecherous “you’re so lucky, lucky, lucky” refrain of Do You Want To, the clipped guitar sound of closing track Outsiders or even the ‘never settle for second best’ message behind the album’s title. Their first album was one of the strongest debuts in recent memory and this is an equally impressive follow-up. You could have it so much better? Maybe, but not much better than this. (by: John Murphy)

New band for Nirvana drummer

Chad Channing, formerly the drummer in Nirvana, is recording material with his new band Before Cars. Channing, who preceded Dave Grohlin Nirvana, is responsible for lead vocals, rhythm guitar and drums in the new band. Although not Nirvana’s original drummer, Channing was the first to appear on a Nirvana recording, playing on first single ‘Love Buzz’ and the group’s debut album, 1989′s ‘Bleach’. His memories of Nirvana are mainly pleasant. “Kurt was always really nice, really quiet,” Channing told Rolling Stone magazine. “I always wished I’d had just one more oppertunity to talk to him.” Before Cars’ first album will be produced by ‘Bleach’ producer Jack Endino

Kingblind Downloads

Brian Eno:: Another Green World
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The Streets:: A Grand don’t come for free
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Suicide:: Suicide 77
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The Flaming Lips on verge of finishing new album

The Flaming Lips are on the verge of completing their new album. The follow-up to 2002′s ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ , titled ‘At War With The Mystics’ , is expected in early 2006. And frontman Wayne Coyne has revealed the band are on schedule to get finished by the end of 2005. He told XFM : “I think we have one more session that we’re going to try to do in November and probably do a couple more songs and see how it’s all fitting together.” He added: “But we’ve had a couple of good runs last couple of times we’ve been up at Dave ‘s [Fridmann – (the band’s longtime producer) studio. We’ve stumbled upon some nice production ideas and got lucky with a couple of songs and it seems like something’s shaping out. We even forget how we made a song or why we made and it’s like ‘Oh that’s a good song, how did that happen?’ “With all of our records, I think we’ve made 12 or 13 of them now, I’m not really sure because we do so many singles and EPs and all these sorts of things, you kinda see as you go. You don’t really know when the good stuff is going to happen, you just kind of have to be doing stuff and hope it turns out good and little by little. We kind of let some of it get out there and let people listen to it and we like getting some feedback. As ridiculous as that seems to go against the idea of an uncompromising artistic approach, you need some objective ideas need to be thrown your way once in a while because you get so caught up in your own world.” The band release a career-spanning video compilation DVD called ‘VOID: 1992-2005′ today (October 4)

Kingblind Downloads

Johnny Cash:: Inside a Swedish Prison
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Various Artists – A Tribute To Bad Religion
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – BBC Acoustic Sessions
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Morcheeba:: The Antidote (Album Review)

There’s no sense in beating around the bush, so let’s get this out of the way quickly: Morcheeba’s latest album The Antidote features a vocalist who is not Skye Edwards (Shock! Horror!). That’s right, she of the relaxed-yet-sultry voice whose sound had become synonymous with the name Morcheeba has departed to pursue her own solo career, and the men of Morcheeba are now forced to proceed with someone else. That someone else is Daisy Martey, someone with twice the power of Edwards, but half the subtlety — speaking of his new bandmate, Ross Godfrey says “We were impressed with her Grace Slick psych-soul voice,” and the comparison (including all of the benefits and deficiencies it implies) couldn’t be more spot-on. Some will be put off by the change, others will embrace it wholeheartedly, and nothing that this or any reviewer has to say on the topic will matter. That said, Morcheeba has obviously put a lot of effort into adjusting to the presence of Ms. Martey. The success of The Antidote is dependent on just how well Paul and Ross Godfrey do adjust to their new vocalist from song to song. For the most part, the entire Morcheeba sound has changed. Rather than sticking with the down-tempo torch songs that dominated most of their work with Edwards, The Antidote plays off like a slightly mellower version of a ’70s rock ‘n’ roll band. Every song features a live drum track, not to mention other real, honest to god instruments, including the leftover presence of horn sections that tended to play a large part in much of Morcheeba’s earlier work. Most startling is the placement of those strong, confident vocals — where once, it seemed that the emphasis was on the music of the Godfreys, now it is Martey herself who takes center stage with a placement in the mix befitting a superstar lead singer. Martey, for her part, takes full advantage of such emphasis, compensating for her own lack of subtlety by utilizing the type of vocal acrobatics that Edwards typically avoided. A classically trained singer, Martey takes her vocals into the stratosphere on a fairly regular basis, usually over the course of the climactic, classic rock codas of the louder tunes. “Ten Men” is a fantastic spaghetti western workout with a vocal climb at the end that causes the listener to wonder whether Mariah Carey-esque emotasqueaking is in the near future, a prediction that fortunately never comes to fruition. “Daylight Robbery” is a little less successful with its “Drive My Car” rhythmic stutters and big honkin’ horns, but Martey’s belting can’t be flawed. She meshes perfectly with the confident strut of the rest of the song, and lifts it above its clichéd origins. The downside to all of this newfound strength is that it seems that the Godfrey brothers have painted themselves into a rut with this vocalist. By focusing all of their efforts into playing to her strengths, they have eschewed most of the variety of their earlier work. Sure, there’s variety here, too, as things go from country to rock to vague attempts at mellow jazz, but its near-uniform dedication to midtempo ’70s jams with the requisite James Bond theme vocalist gets tedious remarkably quickly. One of the worst things a band can do is change themselves for the sake of a single member, and Morcheeba lose much of their identity in the pursuit of the perfect jam that Jefferson Airplane never came up with. Songs like “Everybody Loves a Loser”, “Lighten Up”, and “People Carrier” just all blend together after a while, depending on their singer for power while never bothering to distinguish themselves musically. The disappointment of the majority of the album is only magnified by songs like “Living Hell”, which starts out like the rest but eventually turns into an all-out rock ‘n’ roll jam, “Free Bird” style, and “Antidote” is over six minutes in length and features some interesting arpeggiated chords and appealing interplay between Martey and guest vocalist Rob Mullender. Those sorts of touches could have gone a long way into making the rest of the album a touch more appealing. As it happens, the Daisy Martey era has ended — Morcheeba has parted ways with their vocalist, and are talking of using a mixture of vocalists, Massive Attack style, on the next album. Perhaps that’s for the best. While Martey brought a different, more aggressive feel to Morcheeba’s once über-mellow style, she adds little lyrically, and I can’t possibly see a second album with her vocals sounding terribly different from this one. Her voice is just so distinct, perhaps too much so for the band to develop around her. “You’re such a puzzle, I guess/ God bless and goodbye”, Martey pleasantly sings on album closer “God Bless and Goodbye”, and it’s as fitting a conclusion as any to her short tenure. Solid as The Antidote is, it’s hard to say she’ll be missed. (by Mike Schiller)