Just head here, sign up, download away.
Mover will not appear on Forth but it may turn up as a b-side I suppose. It’s definitely a full-on rock song which is a positive sign (as I was saying yesterday). I’ve actually got a bootleg from 1994 in which The Verve play this song live…so it’s a new 14 year old song. That even makes Radiohead look speedy when it comes to recording old songs.
When The Verve announced their reunion last year I was thrilled. I remain a massive fan from way back when and the chance to maybe see them live again was pretty exciting. However, when they mentioned their intentions to record a new album I was less than optimistic. Would Nick McCabe really get back into the studio with them? But here we are in 2008 and The Verve are set to release a brand new album, entitled Forth, on August 18.
The lead single, which has been played live regularly this year, is called Love Is Noise. It’s a bit dancey and miles away from most of the stuff on Urban Hymns. This suits me fine as I’d love to see The Verve get back to some of the heavier, atmospheric, groove-based songs that characterized their sound through A Northern Soul.
Stream
The Verve – Love Is Noise
While I’m still making my mind up about Love Is Noise, I am quietly optimistic about the album as early reports do mention a return to a more band-based sound than Urban Hymns (which is nearly Richard Ashcroft’s first solo record). I do love Urban Hymns…but Richard’s solo albums have kind of tarnished it for me.
Forth tracklisting
Sit and Wonder
Love Is Noise
Rather Be
Judas
Numbness
I See Houses
Noise Epic
Valium Skies
Columbo
Appalachian Springs
It’s interesting seeing how The Verve are being greeted by the internet. Their last record and tour (which ended in 1998) predate the music explosion that has since hit the web and I’ve been quite surprised to see them turn up on certain music blogs already.
Check out the video for one of my favourite early-Verve songs, Gravity Grave.
Australian tour before year’s end please!
I made a somewhat last minute decision to see David Bowie on my 24th birthday in 2004. At the time he was touring his (actually kinda decent) Reality album but I was yet to be the Bowie fan I am now. I ended up sitting in the very back row of GM Place (an arena) and yet Bowie thrilled me even at that distance.
From the moment he walked on stage to play Rebel Rebel (!!!) he had the entire crowd in the palm of his hand…he is still one hell of a performer. When he played a couple tracks off Low back-to-back in the middle of the set, I was floored. And that encore? Um….yeah. Insane.
01. Rebel Rebel
02. New Killer Star
03. Reality
04. Fame
05. Cactus
06. She’ll Drive The Big Car
07. All The Young Dudes
08. China Girl
09. I’ve Been Waiting For You
10. Days
11. A New Career In A New Town
12. Breaking Glass
13. The Man Who Sold The World
14. Hallo Spaceboy
15. Sunday
16. Under Pressure
17. Life On Mars?
18. Panic In Detroit
19. Ashes To Ashes
20. White Light, White Heat
21. I’m Afraid Of Americans
22. “Heroes”
———
23. The Loneliest Guy
24. Blue Jean
25. Hang On To Yourself
26. Five Years
27. Suffragette City
28. Ziggy Stardust
The Archives project continues…
The record is nutty. And the video for Snowman’s We Are the Plague is suitably odd. Check it out.
And don’t forget you must see them at the Annandale in a few weeks.
Two records over the past couple weeks have gone from meh to awesome really, really quickly. First up, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit.
I didn’t really pay much attention to this band last year so when their latest album arrived in the mail last month I didn’t chuck it straight into the stereo. Instead it sat in a pile for a while before I eventually gave it a listen which was pleasant enough but hardly worth getting all that excited about. Then last week I listened to The Midnight Organ Fight again for the first time in a few weeks and it was like I was listening to a different record.
Opening track, The Modern Leper, is one of 2008′s finest pop moments and the rest of the record is full of great hooks, little surprises (that drum machine!), and some of the most brutally honest lyrics I’ve heard in a while. Nothing is hidden, nothing is obscured…
Download
Frightened Rabbit – The Modern Leper
The other wildlife that has also managed to take me by surprise after initially seeming a bit underwhelming is the debut record from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes. To be honest, I’m still a bit baffled by all the insanely positive reviews (this isn’t groundbreaking music) but the album has this wonderful atmosphere and evokes big, wide open spaces beautifully. It’s back porch music and it is incredibly transformative when you’re listening on a train in a bustling city on a very grey day. Quite possibly the most un-Seattle sounding band ever.
Download
Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
Fleet Foxes – He Doesn’t Know Why
These two records remind once again that patience is a virtue.
While much of the recent Mogwai news has centred around their upcoming EP and album (with the greatest song titles ever), the band have also found the time (more likely their label) to reissue their indisputably classic debut record, Young Team. The reissue features a (much needed) remastering of the original record, plus a second disc full of the requisite rarities and live takes.
While my friends and I often argue about the best Radiohead/Spiritualized/R.E.M. record, we all tend to agree on the fact that Young Team is, to this point, Mogwai’s greatest album. In addition to being a stunning record that flows perfectly, many of the band’s best songs are here as well.
Like Herod? Check.
Summer? Check.
Mogwai Fear Satan? Check.
Released in 1997, the record has aged very, very well. I still put it on pretty often (more than Be Here Now, also released that year) and it still scares the crap out of me. It’s at turns menacing, beautiful, and haunting. And while the term post-rock gets abused regularly, Young Team is surely one of the pinnacles of the genre.
Download
Mogwai – Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home
I haven’t seen these guys live in about five years. That needs to be rectified.
July 17 and/or July 18.
If you are in Sydney at that time and you are not at the Annandale for one of the best Australian double-bills you can find these days, you fail. Miserably. Snowman and Baseball are heading around the country together filling stages with far more insanity than is probably wise. I am already preparing myself for the chaos. I can’t wait. It will also be our last chance here in Australia to see Snowman before they piss off overseas for an extended period. Full dates:
June 28: Bakery, Perth
July 9: Jive, Adelaide
July 10: Republic Bar, Hobart
July 11: Corner Hotel, Melbourne
July 12: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
July 16: The Zoo, Brisbane
July 17: Annandale Hotel, Sydney
July 18: Annandale Hotel, Sydney
July 19: Transit Bar, Canberra
In case you need further convincing, Baseball are nuts live and have released one of my favourite records of the year. And that Snowman record I was still baffled by last month? Well, as I suspected…the record is great. Like, REALLY great. Seek it out.
Download
Snowman – We Are The Plague
Baseball – Soft Boy Factory
Do I finally get to see them live?
So, The Polyphonic Spree were added to the Splendour in the Grass lineup today (see Polaroids for the full list). Now I am going nowhere near Splendour, but I am hoping/assuming the band will be announcing a Sydney sideshow. I’ve been a fan of the band since 2002 but I have always just missed seeing them live. They only ever seemed to play Vancouver while I was out of town.
Hopefully my bad Spree luck ends in 2008.
(That said, my interest in them now pales in comparison to the interest I held in 2002.)
Download
The Polyphonic Spree – Running Away
UPDATE
Those sideshows got announced today.
29 July – Metro Theatre, Sydney
30 July – Hi Fi Bar, Melbourne
31 July – Tivoli, Brisbane
The Radiohead goodies this weekend continue. First Supercollider (which was played again last night in Dublin) and now this. Check out this awesome intimate performance of Thom and Jonny doing The Rip off Portishead’s Third. Colin posted this video on his Waste Central page and it seems to be from backstage in St. Louis. It’s also been ripped to mp3 for your iPod pleasure.
Download
Radiohead – The Rip (alt. link)
A full band version of this would be great.
The long wait for LP8 is now, officially, underway.
Radiohead (well, Thom Yorke really) premiered a new song last night at Malahide Castle in Dublin. Performed by Thom solo on the piano, Supercollider sounds like it has a lot of promise already. Love that piano melody. Not a bad way to kick off their European tour.
Download
Radiohead – Supercollider (alt. link)
Setlist
June 6, 2008
Malahide Castle, Dublin
01 All I Need
02 There There
03 Lucky
04 Bangers + Mash
05 15 Step
06 Nude
07 Pyramid Song
08 Optimistic
09 Arpeggi
10 The National Anthem
11 Idioteque
12 Reckoner
13 House Of Cards
14 Everything In Its Right Place
15 Faust Arp
16 Bodysnatchers
17 Videotape
———
18 The Gloaming
19 You and Whose Army?
20 Myxomatosis
21 My Iron Lung
22 How To Disappear Completely
———
23 Supercollider
24 Just
25 Paranoid Android
Fantastic photo from the Dublin gig by NickPickles.
