2013/01/26

Miles Kane's single, High and Loud review.



Totally unexpected. There's absolutely no other adjective to describe what we thought when we heard the first single from Miles Kane's forthcoming album. Forget Jake Bugg, forget The Vaccines, forget Eugene Mc Guinness, forget Noel Gallagher, forget, ,well, everything. Miles Kane is making the sexiest and most rock n' roll return we've seen so far.

Clad in a tiny leather jacket and skin-tight dark jeans, the Liverpudlian is releasing what can be considered a rock n' roll anthem. Two minutes and fifty-three seconds of screaming guitars, brilliant vocals, efficient lyrics, heart-thumping rythmic line. With Give Up, Miles Kane does not turn his back on his mod days but clearly opens his songwriting to a broader range of Britrock. And if his first album was packed with great tunes like Come Closer or the fantastic My Fantasy, this particular single wins over all of them. TBC Here

2013/01/25

Bowie, track by track preview.

Tony Visconti has been producing David Bowie's albums since Space Oddity in 1969. They've worked together on many of Bowie's greatest triumphs, including Heroes, Young Americans and Scary Monsters. After a long break, they joined forces again in the early 2000s for Heathen and Reality. Two years ago, he started working with Bowie on his long-awaited new album, The Next Day. Rolling Stone spoke to Visconti about the pair's secret sessions, how medieval English history inspired some of the songs and why it's unlikely that Bowie will tour – though a single show remains possible. As the producer noted, his other longtime collaborator, Morrissey, has the opposite plan. . . but he'll get to that.

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2013/01/24

Humeur noire...


Humeur... Je lis qu'Ocean Colour Scene rappelle à ses "fans'" que le pass VIP donne droit à un second accès en coulisses mais que cet accès est subordonné à l'achat d'un deuxième ticket au tarif normal...Quel vocabulaire...Je ne savais pas qu'il y avait des VIP dans le public mod en particulier ni dans le public en général. Jeu dangereux pour des gars qui se la jouent Mod...Moi, un fan? Oh que oui, depuis leur début, je suis même allé avec mes fils à Birmingham sans ticket dans l'espoir de les voir. Pas de ticket, on est restés dehors...Ce nouveau système de VIP, d'extra mega über deluxe édition avec instrus pourris cachés est nul, minable, complètement contre productif.  Remastered (Pourquoi vous n'avez pas fait le boulot correctement tout de suite?)  remixes, extended, enhanced... Vous devriez penser au mec qui a 20 euros et pas un de plus dans son magasin de disques préféré et qui a attendu ça toute la semaine ou tout le mois ou Noël. Il doit choisir. Qui suis-je dans votre public? Qui est-il? Un SPI, spectateur (payant) pas important? A quand le pass SPI?  Les âmes se vendent. J'ai précommandé des tas de nouveaux disques, loyalement, comme tous mes copains et tout mon fric "loisirs" y passe, j'ai les disques originaux de tous mes artistes préférés. Votre truc participe de l'horrible culture du cadeau bidon. Achète une télé t'auras une tablette, achète la version Luxe et tu auras un inédit. Qu'il le reste, inédit. C'est nul. 

J'attends (comme au Grand Mix), un disque avec réduction sur présentation de la carte étudiant, moins de 18 ans, chômeur, un accès spécial en coulisses pour les mecs sans blé. Des morceaux gratuits, comme le font certains, pour les vrais gens. Un peu de l'esprit du Sandinista des Clash qui n'ont pas touché un sou sur les 100 000 premières copies pour le vendre à un prix raisonnable. Les ventes étaient différentes? Oui, mais ils ont tenté quelque chose. 

Faites des disques, vendez-les et bon sang, faites des choix, établissez une bonne fois pour toutes la tracklist et point barre. Créer, c'est choisir. La même version pour tout le monde. Je ne comprends pas ce nouveau plan pour piquer de l'argent. Ces VIP pass, c'est encore une fois pour les gens qui ont de l'argent, pas pour les autres. Concerts privés. Je le comprends parfaitement pour des artistes qui n'arrivent pas à sortir leurs disques et je les soutiens, j'achète leurs disques, paie les souscriptions, mais les autres? les "million sellers"? Vous continuez à cravacher des chevaux crevés...Vous perdez vos fans de base. On se croirait dans le film de Ken Loach, "Looking for Eric", quand les fans de la Working Class sont au pub parce qu'ils ne peuvent pas se payer le billet. A quand le pass "toilettes" avec 50 % de réduction? Ou l'option "pas de rappel" pour les pauvres? On pourrait écouter le concert des chiottes. Mauvais plan, c'est très humiliant, allez vous faire rôtir avec vos éditions deluxe. Faites de la musique, vendez-là, c'est normal, on l'achètera de bon coeur, allez en studio, comme tous les musiciens qui n'arrivent pas à éditer leur musique, ce que vous étiez quand vous auriez tué père et mère pour sortir un single. Au boulot, on crève. 

Angry...just a thought.

Deciated to all the unsigned bands, to all the musicians who eagerly try to record.

About the new way to sell VIP tickets (OCS) : I didn't know there was VIP in the Mod audience, shouldn't play that kind of game... A fan, me? Oh yes, from the very beginning anf I even went (From France...) to Brum without a ticket (the DVD day at the O2) and couldn't find a spare one, stayed out at the doors, but that new system, VIP, Extra mega über deluxe edition with hidden instrumentals is really bad, awful, completely negative. Remastered (why didn't you master it good the first time? first mastering gauranteed, remixes, extended, enhanced... Can't you do the work in a correct way when you release the first CD? Should think to the teenagers, in a record store with 15 quids to spend. He has to chose! What am I? what is he in the audience, a Lower Important person? LIP access? Are souls for sale today? I've preordered the next LP, yes. I'm a loyal fan, love the music, spend all my money in music when I can, I have genuine copies of all my favourite bands. It's an awful "fake gift" culture, buy a TV and you'll get a phone, buy a record and you'll get an extra bonus... It's just ugly. 

Is there any Under 18 special price, you know the  young fan who came 60 miles away on his scoot? Is there any unemployed version with special reduction? Is there any Social Included Access? Is there any free tracks for real people? Is there any Sandinista spirit floating around there? The Clash didn't get a single penny before 100 000 copies because they wanted to keep it cheap. It was the times record selling were really different, I know but they did something, they tried. You don't. 

Make a record, sell it, will buy it, make the choices, cut the tracklist (to create is to chose, eh?) and sell it for ALL the basic fans, the same way. Can't understand that new way to find the dough... It's not an OCS syndrom but it's bad. Private gigs are for who? People who's got some quids. I don't. I can understand it for all the brilliant musicians who really have to make ends meet, really, no problem, they can't do a record today and it's very sad according to their talent, which is real, but million sellers shouldn't do it, they will ride other dead horses. And lose their very loyal audience. The football syndrom, like in the Ken Loach's movie, when the working class lads are in the pub, watching football on TV because they just can't go yo the ground. Wrong way, I feel a bit humiliated. Won't buy anymore f***** Deluxe edition. Bring us fresh music, go to the studio and do like us, like all the musicians who try to survive: Work. An LP a year and a single every two months. We're gonna lose faith too. 

Billy's new LP, March. ;)


Miles Kane new video.

2013/01/23

Menahan Street Band new video.


Back in October, Brooklyn's Menahan Street Band released The Crossing on the Daptone imprint Dunham Records. (They're also that label's official house band.) Now you can check out the clever video for the album cut "Keep Coming Back." A soulful, horn-laden funk tune with a 1970s vibe, the song actually started as a cover of Nirvana's "Stay Away" and the clip was inspired by the 1984 film The Pope of Greenwich Village, according to drummer Homer Steinweiss. The video follows what appear to be two lovers eying each other at a bar, though in a bit of a knock-out twist, it turns out their real relationship takes place in a boxing ring

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Sly Johnson...

2013/01/22

Class A. No comment.


Michel De Montaigne quotes:

To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it; let us have nothing more often in mind than death...



2013/01/21

Isle of Wight, Weller joins the line up.


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The legendary Isle of Wight Festival 2013 is shaping up to be one of the year's most exciting events with the addition of The Modfather himself Paul Weller. Joining the Main Stage line up on Friday 14th June for a special guest performance, he will appear before a UK festival exclusive, from headliners The Stone Roses. What's more I Am Kloot, Ke$ha, Kodaline, Devlin, Little Angels, Willy Mason, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Lawson, Ian Hunter and The Gypsy Queens will also be making an appearance across the weekend.
Paul Weller says: "It's been a while since I've played the Isle of Wight Festival and I'm excited to be playing it this year, it's a great way to kick off the summer."
John Giddings, the Festival's promoter, says: "If you like music, you like Paul Weller – he is one of the greatest singer songwriters this country has produced and we are proud to bring him to our small island off the south coast – we have plenty of pebbles on a beach for him!!"
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I am Kloot new LP. Simon C's advice.




2013/01/20

Dad is ok to play in the snow BUT...


...the snowman will have something special. ;) Even the snow could be Mod. ;) 

2013/01/16

Spanish Public Place named "Joe Strummer" in Grenada... Spanish Bombs...


La Ville de Grenade (sud) va baptiser une place en l'honneur de Joe Strummer, l'ancien chanteur du groupe punk mythique The Clash, qui évoquait le passé meurtri de la cité dans l'une des ses plus célèbres chansons, "Spanish Bombs". Le projet devrait être approuvé en février par la mairie.


(Photo Fabrice Demessence, publiée avec son autorisation, all rights reserved)

La chanson "Spanish Bombs", sur l'album "London Calling" (1979), évoquait la guerre civile en Espagne (1936-1939) et le poète Federico Garcia Lorca, fusillé non loin de Grenade par des combattants franquistes en 1936. Motivée par une pétition soutenue par le journal local Ideal et des milliers de fans sur le réseau social Facebook, la mairie de Grenade a décidé d'honorer Joe Strummer en hommage à ses liens avec la ville.
La petite place choisie pour porter son nom se trouve à quelques centaines de mètres du palais de l'Alhambra, joyau de l'art islamique et l'une des plus grandes attractions touristiques en Espagne. Joe Strummer a vécu dans le sud de l'Espagne dans les années 1980 et avait alors produit des disques de groupes locaux, rapporte Ideal.

2013/01/14

Villagers, tonight, live.



On January 14th, La Blogotheque will publish an incredible 

Soirée de Poche with Villagers and Vincent Segal. 

Exclusively on www.blogotheque.net and 



2013/01/13

Luca Sapio, una vocce! (Weller opening act in Italia)


Luca Sapio is a true and real lover of soul music, especially the one that is felt from the heart. He knows that “You can’t sing the blues unless you have lived the blues” cause he is no stranger to hard times. He spent the better part of his life singing, working and traveling cross the U.S. Countries, carrying the load of discomfort of being a stranger in a strange land with him. Tons of classic soul records heard from his father’s turntable helped him to overcome hardships such as having no visa and a safe job. Thanks to his talent he has collaborated with many important artists of different genres, from jazz to rhythm and blues…

On this LP he worked with Dap Kings, Menahan Street Band, Budos Band...

“Luca Sapio: such a soul singer! powerful and amazing "who knows" is a blast record!”

(RollingStone Magazine)

Forza? ;) 

2013/01/11

Small Faces Convention...2013!



DATE FOR YOUR DIARY.
17TH annual SMALL FACES CONVENTION
SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER at the 229 in Central London.
More details to follow shortly.

John Hellier's flame keeping never ending tour! 

2013/01/10

No comment.

The following news was officially reported in the Southend Echo newspaper earlier today. I am very sad to announce that Wilko has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas.  He has chosen not to receive any chemotherapy. He is currently in good spirits, is not yet suffering any physical effects and can expect to enjoy at least another few months of reasonable health and activity.  He has just set off on a trip to Japan; on his return we plan to complete a new CD, make a short tour of France, then give a series of farewell gigs in the UK.  There is also a live DVD in the pipeline, filmed on the last UK tour. Wilko wishes to offer his sincere thanks for all the support he has had over his long career, from those who have worked with him to, above all, those devoted fans and admirers who have attended his live gigs, bought his recordings and generally made his life such an extraordinarily  full and eventful experience. 



 Thank you. Robert Hoy (Manager)

Painting, new OCS Single.



Keys to Bowie last single...

I've been in Berlin very often between 1977 (yes, was 11) and 1982, for a month every time, with the leisure centre of my small city and I knew the East Berlin with soldiers, dogs, waiting at the checkpoint all night long, etc...Stood for months there and it was really freaky...Yes, people, I grew up in a complete communist city and I saw vintage Trabant, MZ motorcycles, etc. Strange beers and very strange "sweets", it was actually rice cooked in sugar called "pufreis". When Berlin was crossed we went to Stollberg, near the Czech border... 






Very interesting analysis here.

2013/01/07

2013, a guitar year?


January 3, 2013 20:18

    Radio 1 boss, Rough Trade and Paul Weller predict the return of guitar music in 2013

    A range of music industry pundits tell NME what they're tipping this year

    Meanwhile, Paul Weller explained that he has "just started getting excited" about indie music again. "It's been shit for the last few years," he said. "But there's just a few bands I've heard who seem to be doing it for the right reasons."

    He added: "I loved the Palma Violets single, and I keep hearing a load of different things that are turning me on. I saw that band The Strypes recently and it was just, 'Wow'. The guitarist is fucking amazing. Really raised my game, that did."

    2013/01/04

    François Long, Bassiste des Rabeats, une conversation.


    Entretien réalisé avec François avant le concert des Rabeats du théâtre Sébastopol à Lille en 2012. Comment sont nés les Rabeats? De Roger Rabbitt aux Rabeats... Que penser des Tribute bands? La basse dans tout ça? Pourquoi cette admiration pour Paul Weller (et Bruce Foxton)? Gail Ann Dorsey? le fracas de 1977, pourquoi jouer sur les instruments vintage? The Jam? Paul McCartney, les Beatles à lui tout seul ? Le Palm muting, technique unique? Les "busy bass lines"? Les Beatles et le matériel d'époque live? Les intermittents du spectacle? Un musicien pro aujourd’hui? XTC? Hubert Mounier et l'homme aux mille vies? Colin Moulding? La musique demain? Adrian Belew? Gerry Leonard, David Bowie, Free as a bird...

    2013/01/03

    Miles Kane new single.

    Paul Weller's revolutionary reggae selection. (Q Mag)


    Our new issue - Q316 out - grab a copy or download it for iPad - features 35 Perfect Playlists picked by noble figures from the worlds of music, film and TV.
    Each has picked a specially themed, 10 song playlist, explaining their selection in full in the issue. Grab Q319 now for the full story, but in the meantime you can listen to each playlist via Spotify. Here's Paul Weller's Revolutionary Reggae selection.

    Beatlejuice to start the year!


    Apple McCartney, John Lemon, George Pearrison, Mango  Starr. ;) 

    2013/01/02

    John Grant's new LP: March 2013.


    John Grant returns with second album “Pale Green Ghosts”

    Bella Union records are thrilled to announce the return of JOHN GRANT,  whose second solo album Pale Green Ghosts will be released on Monday 11th March 2013.
    After a breakthrough year that saw his exceptional solo debut “Queen Of Denmark” win MOJO’s Album of 2010 and countless other accolades, John Grant hasn’t rested on his laurels but created a follow-up that underlines his uncanny and charismatic talents. Recorded in Iceland and featuring Sinead O’Connor on guest vocals, the brilliant “Pale Green Ghosts” adds sublime notes of dark, gleaming electronica to the anticipated velveteen ballads, calling on all of Grant’s influences and tastes, presenting an artist at the peak of his powers…
    John Grant has also just announced a headline show at London’s Heaven the week of release, the tickets of which go on-sale Friday morning.
    Wednesday 13 March – LONDON – Heaven (£15) Tickets