Blogs - Uncut.co.uk

Further thoughts on Elliott Smith

John Mulvey Thu, 22/03/2007 - 1:12pm

I received an interesting message yesterday from SAm, responding to my preview of the forthcoming Elliott Smith album. "It bothers me a little bit to read, here and elsewhere, Elliott's 'strummed melodies' described as 'simple'," he writes.

Reading. . .in the beginning

Allan Jones Wed, 21/03/2007 - 1:12pm

On Monday night, I went to the launch of the 2007 Reading Festival – or the Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festivals, as the dual event is now called – which, as you’ll probably know is headlined this year by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and Razorlight, with Arcade Fire, Kings Of Leon and Nine Inch Nails featuring prominently among the supporting line-up.

SXSW: Albert Hammond Jr, Amy Winehouse, Bloc Party, Good, Bad, Queen

John Mulvey Wed, 21/03/2007 - 12:58pm

Another guest blogger today, as I put my feet up, listen to an excellent Terry Riley reissue and hand over Wild Mercury Sound to April Long. Like Luke, who did my work for me yesterday, April spent last week at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. And like Luke, she completely let Uncut down by missing Psychedelic Horseshit. Oh well, here's her fine report:

SXSW: Pete Townshend, Bob Mould, Mary Weiss, Charlie Louvin, Holy Shit. . .

John Mulvey Tue, 20/03/2007 - 12:52pm

As promised, I have a guest blogger at Wild Mercury Sound today. Luke Torn is Uncut's man in Austin, Texas, and here is his report on last week's South By Southwest shenanigans - the 21st SXSW he's attended. Luke didn't get to see Psychedelic Horseshit, sadly, but at least he saw Holy Shit...

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Michael Bonner Tue, 20/03/2007 - 11:52am

Hi there, and welcome to the first of UNCUT.co.uk’s weekly film blogs. Every Friday I’ll be looking at the latest films opening at the cinema, getting released on DVD, and...

The Black Mountain Army

John Mulvey Mon, 19/03/2007 - 5:42pm

Just a quick post today, since I'm waiting for a couple of reports on South By Southwest to be filed by Uncut writers. In the meantime, I've been listening to some new stuff from the Vancouver family of bands centred around Black Mountain.

TEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

Allan Jones Mon, 19/03/2007 - 12:44pm

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO

March 19-25

The Eagles' 1976 compilation, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, reaches sales of 24 million, equalling those of the previous all-time best seller, Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Here’s a brilliant Richmond Fontaine concert. . .

Allan Jones Fri, 16/03/2007 - 6:17pm

I don’t want to give anyone the impression that all I do all day is sit around, browsing through YouTube files and watching fantastic footage of my favourite bands – that’s Steve Sutherland’s job, after all.

Rufus Wainwright's Release The Stars

John Mulvey Fri, 16/03/2007 - 4:17pm

There's something a little disingenuous about opening your album with a song called "Do I Disappoint You?". This is how the fifth album by Rufus Wainwright begins: with wave after wave of opulent, complex orchestral flourishes, building and building; with a multitracked Martha Wainwright screaming "CHAOS!" and "DESTRUCTION!"; and with Wainwright himself, coy in the midst of so much melodrama. It's a theatrical set-piece pretending to be an anti-climax. It's both lovely and knowingly ridiculous. And it's also rather good.

Battles

John Mulvey Thu, 15/03/2007 - 4:51pm

It seems a long time ago now, when I thought post-rock was the most exciting music in the world. The thing with those early records by Tortoise and such was that they made anything seem possible. Post-rock was never going to supersede rock, but in the mid-'90s it still felt like a fantastically open-minded scene. The bands weren't hung up on the old signifiers of rock, they had this voracious appetite for so much music: jazz, electronica, Krautrock, endlessly obscure diversions from the well-beaten path. There were no apparent rules, which made it all the more disappointing that it became so formulaic so fast.