So Many Lemons

Greetings friends. The rather excellent art-rock noiseniks Volcano! have just unleashed the video for their new single So Many Lemons (out today). The video features a 'nanopus' costume which volcano! hope to bring on stage during their impending short European tour.

Dot to Dot Festival 2009 Line-up Annouced

The first batch of bands for this years Bristol/Nottingham based indie-fest Dot to Dot have been announced today. Quite a mixed bag...

Friendly Fires
Ladyhawke
Annie Mac
Patrick Wolf
Cage The Elephant
Little Boots
AC Newman
Tommy Reilly
Crystal Stilts
The Big Pink
Shapeshifter
The Pains Of Pure Of Heart
Vivian Girls
65 Days Of Static (Nottingham only)
Boys Noize (Nottingham only)
Brodinski (Nottingham only)

As usual the thing is heftily biased towards Nottingham, with the only *real* big name 65DaysofStatic not being booked for a Bristol show. I mean come on CAGE THE ELEPHANT?! AGAIN? On top of this for your money you can dance the night away with a DJ set from Radio 1 no-hoper Annie Mac and lollop around to washed up Lord of Kook Patrick Wolf. Yawn. Got to Field Day instead. In fact, this line-up is so bad I can't even think of a suitable yootube video to end with. A dark day indeed.

None Of You Will Ever See A Penny

As of today the honeymoon period is over between Goatwriter and Google. After a lengthy legal battle and extensive negotiation, talks with everyone's favourite multinational have regrettably broken down. This turn of events left only one option if the fine moral fibre of this blog was to be upheld. All advertising has been removed. To celebrate the freedom of Goatwriter from its corporate shackles let us indulge in a rendition of Young Dre's Money Can't Buy You Love (brought to you by the Google corporation via Youtube..)

Album Review: Mono – Hymn to the Immortal Wind

A decade since their formation, Japanese post-rock dinosaurs Mono release their fifth full length recording, their first since the widely championed You Are There in 2006. Evidently, ten years on the job and Mono have made some friends, with the line-up expanded here to accommodate a 23-piece orchestra, but with production duties remaining in the safe hands of long time collaborator Steve Albini. Regrettably, Hymn to the Immortal Wind finds Mono in something of a midlife crisis; less new sports car, more new symphony orchestra. The music reeks of an ageing band alluding towards maturity through “complex” arrangements and thick symphonic textures, but invariably ends up drowned in neoclassical pomp and faux sentimentality. The sledgehammer drums, piercing guitars and exciting dynamics of One Step More and You Die are largely gone, replaced with slow burning melodies and string-drenched crescendos, some of which would be more at home accompanying the emotional climax of The Lion King. At times, this more understated approach manifests itself in glorious consonance (the thrilling finale of Burial At Sea), but these moments are diluted by mostly obvious chord progressions and overbearing orchestration. The spark of Mono does, however, remain, and at times breaks through the turgid Rachel’s-esque texture to yield some of the ferocious intensity which Mono are famed to exhibit live. A case in point is the stunning album highlight Pure As Snow (Trails of the Winter Storm), a brooding eleven minutes of delicate guitar interplay and driving percussion which provide a stark reminder of Mono’s phenomenal grasp of melody and timbre. Thankfully, these moments of pre-eminence save Hymn to the Immortal Wind from getting lost in its own pomposity, and Mono continue on their post-rock pilgrimage unscathed. Mono play The Croft in Bristol on 25th March.

If you would prefer to read this review in the physical domain, pick up a copy of this month's Epigram.

The Hope That House Built

What ho! It looks like those noisy welsh anger-merchants Future of the Left are to release their new single The Hope That House Built on 4AD this month. Contrary to various idiots on the interwebs it does not sound like The Young Knives, but it is a definite departure from the vitriolic chaos-pop of Curses. FOTL are also to release a live album Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires later this year, but if you were planning on downloading it then think again. Heres a rather cryptic message to all indie-pirates from FOTL frontman Andy Falkous:

The next person, male or female, who accosts me at a show, incredulous at our lack of success then tells me that they illegally downloaded all of our music gets punched squarely in the t*ts. No exceptions. Be a feckless, short-sighted f*cking thief all you like but self-righteous hypocrites with no sense of the absurd are valid, vapid targets.

In the meantime, check out the yootube video for The Hope That House Built right here!

Gig round-up (Bristol-centric)

There are lots of great gigs coming up in Bristol over the next few months, so when better to provide a round-up. If you aren't cool enough to know all the bands listed below then you can shamefully click THIS handy link for a Spotify playlist which contains a choice track from each band (the ones Spotify has at least..). Otherwise rock out to the embedded yootube/myspace musics. Also, if anyone was heading to the Gang Gang Dance show (w/Fuck Buttons DJ set) at the Fleece this Friday then don't because it's been cancelled due to all of GGD's artsy/bloopy equipment being lost in an electrical fire on the first leg of their European tour. Unlucky.

INGUE RECORDS PRESENT MT + DEAD MAIDS + CONSTELLATIONS at The Cube Microplex on Fri 06 Mar 09

New Mt. track available here (it's great)

PEOPLE IN PLANES at Academy 2 on Fri 03 Apr 09

PURE REASON REVOLUTION at The Cooler on Sun 15 Mar 09

THE ACORN at The Cooler on Mon 04 May 09

MONO at The Croft on Wed 25 Mar 09

M83 at the Fleece on Wed 06 May 09

PREFUSE 73 DJ SET/ SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS / KYTE / APACHE BEAT (BROOKLYN) / DJ SET FROM NADIA KSABIA at Start the Bus on Sat 28 Feb 09

JEFFREY LEWIS & THE JUNKYARD at The Thekla on Mon 27 Apr 09

AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD with support from Middle Class Rut at The Thekla on Wed 22 Apr 09

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE + SPECIAL GUESTS at Trinity Arts Centre, St Philips on Sun 22 Mar 09

MOUNTAIN OF 8 (A MINI FESTIVAL ) at The Arnolfini (Auditorium and Dark Studio) on Fri 03 Apr 09 - Qu Junktions presents. 'Mountain of 8' (A mini Festival ) with Dirty Projectors + Polar Bear + Wildbirds & Peacedrums + Matt Elliott + Gary Smith + Lucky Dragons + Silver Stairs of Ketchikan + Silver Pyre

Also, lol-worthy gig listing of the moment goes to:

THE SLACKERS + THE SKINTS (!) at The Thekla in on Mon 18 May 09

Non-lol worthy satellite news

It all started so well for NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which launched in the early hours of this morning from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California..



However at 10.11am GMT NASA implemented an undisclosed "contingency plan" as the payload failed to separate from the Taurus XL Rocket, thus ending the mission in failure. This satellite system could provide a key holistic insight into the processes acting on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and therefore help in the battle against climate change. Follow the NASA OCO blog here as to the status of the mission.