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Allen Toussaint: “I never thought of being a performer, never”

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6th June 2014

Allen Toussaint: “I never thought of being a performer, never”

Allen Toussaint looks back over his incredible career in the new issue of Uncut, dated July 2014 and out now. The New Orleans songwriter and performer discusses working with artists including Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Frankie Miller, The Band, Little Feat and Labelle. Tou...

Allen Toussaint looks back over his incredible career in the new issue of Uncut, dated July 2014 and out now.

The New Orleans songwriter and performer discusses working with artists including Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Frankie Miller, The Band, Little Feat and Labelle.

Toussaint also talks about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on his beloved city, and his lack of ambition as far as performing under his own name.

“I never thought of being a performer,” he explains. “Never. I only recorded myself by request from companies.

“But my comfort zone is behind the scene. People out front, I expect them to live and breathe that, like I live and breathe what I do. I do this, you do that. That’s what I believe.”

The new Uncut, dated July 2014, is out now.

Listen to new Jeff Tweedy song, “I’ll Sing It”

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5th June 2014

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Listen to new Jeff Tweedy song, “I’ll Sing It”

Jeff Tweedy has released a new song, "I'll Sing It", taken from his forthcoming album, Sukierae. According to Glide, the album is released on September 16 through Tweedy's own dBpm Records. Sukierae contains 20 new songs, performed by Tweedy along with his 18-year-old son, drummer Spencer. “Whe...

Jeff Tweedy has released a new song, “I’ll Sing It“, taken from his forthcoming album, Sukierae.

According to Glide, the album is released on September 16 through Tweedy’s own dBpm Records.

Sukierae contains 20 new songs, performed by Tweedy along with his 18-year-old son, drummer Spencer.

“When I set out to make this record, I imagined it being a solo thing, but not in the sense of one guy strumming an acoustic guitar and singing,” Tweedy said. “Solo to me meant that I would do everything – write the songs, play all the instruments and sing. But Spencer’s been with me from the very beginning demo sessions, playing drums and helping the songs take shape. In that sense, the record is kind of like a solo album performed by a duo.”

Other musicians on Sukierae are Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of the Brooklyn-band Lucius, who provide backing vocals, and keyboard player, Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5).

Grace Jones – Nightclubbing (Deluxe edition)

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5th June 2014

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Grace Jones – Nightclubbing (Deluxe edition)

Pull up to her bumper! Disco diva’s 1981 new-wave masterpiece pimped out with b-sides and unreleased material... Grace Jones had already been typecast as a supernatural being by the fashion world in the 1970s while she held court in the bohemian hotspots of New York and Paris. Still, it it took a leap of faith by Island Records’ Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin to launch the Jamaican diva as a radical new artist at the turn of the ’80s. Released in 1981, Nightclubbing is the album that came to define Jones as the complete performer, in her own way, as singer, muse, actress, alien and androgyne. Its sound, a sublime mix of reggae, funk, new wave and disco, was as arresting as its cover image, a painting of Jones by her partner Jean-Paul Goude, her sinuous masculinity accentuated by a flat top hairstyle and modern Armani tailoring. The indigo mood, cool gaze and cigarette suggested Marlene Dietrich, the gender-bending a touch of Bowie. No one had seen or heard anything quite like this, though. She had form, of course, having made, in tandem with her modelling career, three decent disco albums with master mixer Tom Moulton, but by the end of the ’70s it was time to step off that treadmill. Sensing her potential, Blackwell invited Jones to his studio, Compass Point, near Nassau in the Bahamas, and assembled a band who, under his charismatic stewardship, would interpret contemporary hits and compose original material for Jones. Though A Certain Ratio had been considered for the gig, it quickly became apparent that Blackwell’s boys were no ordinary outfit. The backbone of countless dub and reggae grooves, bassist Sly Dunbar and drummer Robbie Shakespeare could claim to be the finest rhythm section in the world, while alongside guitarists Mikey Chung and Barry Reynolds (ex-Blodwyn Pig) and percussionist Uziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson, Parisian keyboard player Wally Badarou brought continental flair to the mix. Dubbed the Compass Point All Stars, they eased themselves into the task at hand with fairly orthodox covers of The Pretenders, Roxy Music and The Normal for 1980’s Warm Leatherette before hitting their stride on the edgier material that would form Nightclubbing. Only 12 months separates the two albums – Jones’ altercation with chat show host Russell Harty, in December 1980, occurred midway between releases – yet they’re very different beasts. Perhaps the All Stars, by now a well-oiled unit, had sussed out what Blackwell and Sadkin were after because on Nightclubbing they’re cavalier enough to dismantle Flash And The Pan’s “Walking In The Rain” and Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and rebuild them in Jones’ image: exotic, sensual, funky and – uniquely for a woman who devoured the spotlight – somehow endlessly mysterious. On “Nightclubbing” they construct a synth-funk chassis over which Jones decadently drapes her long limbs, transforming Iggy’s neurotic narrator into a champion athlete. “Demolition Man”, a song Sting wrote for Jones and later recorded with The Police, is gobbled up and spat out over a booming, rubbery groove. There are lighter moments that highlight the breadth of the producers’ tastes – the snaking, sultry “I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” and “I’ve Done It Again”, written by Reynolds and Marianne Faithfull, on which Jones sings rather than commands – but it’s the All Stars’ “Pull Up To The Bumper” that will always be the real head-turner. A raunchy post-punk dub underpinned by a classic Sly & Robbie riddim, “Pull Up…” is supposedly about parallel parking, but when Jones instructs, “Pull up to my bumper, baby / In your long black limousine / Pull up to my bumper, baby / Drive it in between”, she’s not thinking about the Highway Code. Five extended versions of “Pull Up…” appear on Disc 2 amid sundry other 12-inch mixes. The key track here is the unreleased cover of Gary Numan’s “Me! I Disconnect From You” which finds Jones coasting on a warm, rolling groove, the original’s angst thawing beneath a palm tree. This didn’t feature on ’82’s (i)Living My Life(i), the passable final instalment of Jones’ Compass Point trilogy, but it wouldn’t have fitted. Even by then, Jones had moved on, her sights set on Hollywood. The nightclub veteran knew when to make the perfect exit. Piers Martin Q+A Wally Badarou, Compass Point All Stars keyboard player What was the atmosphere like at Compass Point when you joined? A bit tense at the beginning, as apart from Chris (Blackwell) and Alex (Sadkin), no one really knew what was in the game: disco or reggae? Luckily, things unfolded without verbal or written explanation. What are you enduring memories of making Nightclubbing? The smile on Sly’s face when I improvised the keys on “Pull Up To The Bumper”; Chris’ astonishment when he realised I did the solo on “Walking In The Rain” with a synth; Alex and Chris’ relief when I came up with the high-pitch introduction to “I’ve Seen That Face Before”… Each song had its special moments. How did the sessions unfold? We would start at sunset and carry on until we felt we were not productive anymore. No drinking, barely smoking, nothing unusual for the times. Concentrated and relaxed. What do you remember of the Gary Numan cover? I had plans for overdubs, but never did them because the song was no longer scheduled. It still sounds unfinished to my ear. It is always interesting that people might like what you felt was unfinished: it is all about where we place the cursor in purposefulness. Fans love it, so be it. Was there a sense you were making something special with Grace? At the time, no. So many massive hits from the US and UK were attracting so much attention wordwide, we hardly had a clue about making any durable impact.

Pull up to her bumper! Disco diva’s 1981 new-wave masterpiece pimped out with b-sides and unreleased material…

Grace Jones had already been typecast as a supernatural being by the fashion world in the 1970s while she held court in the bohemian hotspots of New York and Paris. Still, it it took a leap of faith by Island Records’ Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin to launch the Jamaican diva as a radical new artist at the turn of the ’80s. Released in 1981, Nightclubbing is the album that came to define Jones as the complete performer, in her own way, as singer, muse, actress, alien and androgyne. Its sound, a sublime mix of reggae, funk, new wave and disco, was as arresting as its cover image, a painting of Jones by her partner Jean-Paul Goude, her sinuous masculinity accentuated by a flat top hairstyle and modern Armani tailoring. The indigo mood, cool gaze and cigarette suggested Marlene Dietrich, the gender-bending a touch of Bowie. No one had seen or heard anything quite like this, though.

She had form, of course, having made, in tandem with her modelling career, three decent disco albums with master mixer Tom Moulton, but by the end of the ’70s it was time to step off that treadmill. Sensing her potential, Blackwell invited Jones to his studio, Compass Point, near Nassau in the Bahamas, and assembled a band who, under his charismatic stewardship, would interpret contemporary hits and compose original material for Jones. Though A Certain Ratio had been considered for the gig, it quickly became apparent that Blackwell’s boys were no ordinary outfit. The backbone of countless dub and reggae grooves, bassist Sly Dunbar and drummer Robbie Shakespeare could claim to be the finest rhythm section in the world, while alongside guitarists Mikey Chung and Barry Reynolds (ex-Blodwyn Pig) and percussionist Uziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson, Parisian keyboard player Wally Badarou brought continental flair to the mix. Dubbed the Compass Point All Stars, they eased themselves into the task at hand with fairly orthodox covers of The Pretenders, Roxy Music and The Normal for 1980’s Warm Leatherette before hitting their stride on the edgier material that would form Nightclubbing.

Only 12 months separates the two albums – Jones’ altercation with chat show host Russell Harty, in December 1980, occurred midway between releases – yet they’re very different beasts. Perhaps the All Stars, by now a well-oiled unit, had sussed out what Blackwell and Sadkin were after because on Nightclubbing they’re cavalier enough to dismantle Flash And The Pan’s “Walking In The Rain” and Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and rebuild them in Jones’ image: exotic, sensual, funky and – uniquely for a woman who devoured the spotlight – somehow endlessly mysterious.

On “Nightclubbing” they construct a synth-funk chassis over which Jones decadently drapes her long limbs, transforming Iggy’s neurotic narrator into a champion athlete. “Demolition Man”, a song Sting wrote for Jones and later recorded with The Police, is gobbled up and spat out over a booming, rubbery groove. There are lighter moments that highlight the breadth of the producers’ tastes – the snaking, sultry “I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” and “I’ve Done It Again”, written by Reynolds and Marianne Faithfull, on which Jones sings rather than commands – but it’s the All Stars’ “Pull Up To The Bumper” that will always be the real head-turner. A raunchy post-punk dub underpinned by a classic Sly & Robbie riddim, “Pull Up…” is supposedly about parallel parking, but when Jones instructs, “Pull up to my bumper, baby / In your long black limousine / Pull up to my bumper, baby / Drive it in between”, she’s not thinking about the Highway Code.

Five extended versions of “Pull Up…” appear on Disc 2 amid sundry other 12-inch mixes. The key track here is the unreleased cover of Gary Numan’s “Me! I Disconnect From You” which finds Jones coasting on a warm, rolling groove, the original’s angst thawing beneath a palm tree. This didn’t feature on ’82’s (i)Living My Life(i), the passable final instalment of Jones’ Compass Point trilogy, but it wouldn’t have fitted. Even by then, Jones had moved on, her sights set on Hollywood. The nightclub veteran knew when to make the perfect exit.

Piers Martin

Q+A

Wally Badarou, Compass Point All Stars keyboard player

What was the atmosphere like at Compass Point when you joined?

A bit tense at the beginning, as apart from Chris (Blackwell) and Alex (Sadkin), no one really knew what was in the game: disco or reggae? Luckily, things unfolded without verbal or written explanation.

What are you enduring memories of making Nightclubbing?

The smile on Sly’s face when I improvised the keys on “Pull Up To The Bumper”; Chris’ astonishment when he realised I did the solo on “Walking In The Rain” with a synth; Alex and Chris’ relief when I came up with the high-pitch introduction to “I’ve Seen That Face Before”… Each song had its special moments.

How did the sessions unfold?

We would start at sunset and carry on until we felt we were not productive anymore. No drinking, barely smoking, nothing unusual for the times. Concentrated and relaxed.

What do you remember of the Gary Numan cover?

I had plans for overdubs, but never did them because the song was no longer scheduled. It still sounds unfinished to my ear. It is always interesting that people might like what you felt was unfinished: it is all about where we place the cursor in purposefulness. Fans love it, so be it.

Was there a sense you were making something special with Grace?

At the time, no. So many massive hits from the US and UK were attracting so much attention wordwide, we hardly had a clue about making any durable impact.

Glastonbury stage times announced

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5th June 2014

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The stage times for this month's Glastonbury festival have been revealed. Scroll down for information on the timings for the Pyramid Stage, Other Stage, West Holts Stage, The Park Stage, John Peel Stage Acoustic Tent and Avalon Stage. Glastonbury 2014 takes place on Worthy Farm over June 27-29, with the gates to festival opening on June 25. Pyramid Stage Friday Arcade Fire 22.00-23.45 Elbow 20.00-21.15 Lily Allen 18.30-19.30 Rudimental 16.45-17.45 De La Soul 15.15-16.15 Rodrigo y Gabriela 13.45-14.45 The War on Drugs 12.30-13.15 Turtle Island 11.30-12.10 Saturday Metallica 21.45-23.45 Jack White 19.30-20.45 Robert Plant 17.30-18.45 Lana Del Rey 16.00-17.00 Kelis 14.30-15.20 Angel Haze 13.15-14.00 Nitin Sawhney 12.00-12.45 Nick Mulvey 11.00-11.40 Sunday Kasabian 21.45-23.15 The Black Keys 19.45-21.00 Ed Sheeran 18.00-19.00 Dolly Parton 16.20-17.30 The 1975 14.45-15.35 Toumani & Sidiki 13.30-14.15 Caro Emerald 12.15-13.00 English National Ballet 11.30-11.50 Other Stage Friday Skrillex 22.30-23.45 Paolo Nutini 20.45-21.45 Interpol 19.15-20.15 Foster the People 17.50-18.50 Haim 16.25-17.20 Band of Skulls 15.10-16.00 John Newman 13.50-14.45 Blondie 12.15-13.20 TBA 11.00-11.45 Saturday Jake Bugg 22.30-23.45 Pixies 21.00-22.00 Manic Street Preachers 19.30-20.30 Imagine Dragons 18.00-19.00 Kodaline 16.30-17.30 Warpaint 15.00-16.00 Midlake 13.40-14.30 Circa Waves 12.30-13.10 Jake Isaac 11.30-12.00 Sunday Massive Attack 22.00-23.15 Ellie Goulding 20.30-21.30 Bombay Bicycle Club 18.50-19.50 The Horrors 17.20-18.20 Sam Smith 16.00-16.50 White Lies 14.40-15.30 Lucy Rose 13.30-14.10 The Subways 12.10-13.00 Bajofondo 11.00-11.40 West Holts Stage Friday MIA 22.15-23.45 Jurassic 5 20.30-21.30 Tune-Yards 19.00-20.00 Vintage Trouble 17.30-18.30 Sun Ra Arkestra 16.00-17.00 Deltron 3030 14.30-15.30 The Stepkids 13.00-14.00 The London Sinfonietta and Jonny Greenwood 11:10-12:30 Saturday Bryan Ferry 22.15-23.45 Goldfrapp 20.30-21.30 Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 19.00-20.00 The Daptone Super Soul Revue 16.30-18.30 The Internet 14.45-15.45 John Wizards 13.15-14.15 The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band 11.45-12.45 Sunday Disclosure 22.00-23.15 Bonobo 20.30-21.30 The Wailers 19.00-20.00 The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra 17.30-18.30 Public Service Broadcasting 16.00-17.00 Troker 14.30-15.30 Melt Yourself Down 13.00-14.00 M+A 11.45-12.30 The Park Stage Friday Metronomy 23.00-00.15 Four Tet 21.30-22.30 2 Bears (DJ set) 21.00-21.30 Danny Brown 20.00-21.00 Parquet Courts 18.30-19.30 Jimi Goodwin 17.00-18.00 Courtney Barnett 15.30-16.30 Don Cavalli 14.00-15.00 Bipolar Sunshine 12.45-13.30 All We Are 11.30-12.15 Saturday Mogwai 23.00-00.15 John Grant 21.30-22.30 Anna Calvi 20.00-21.00 ESG 18.30-19.30 Jagwar Ma 17.00-18.00 Nina Persson 15.30-16.30 Cate Le Bon 14.10-15.00 Young Fathers 13.00-13.45 Vance Joy 12.00-12.40 Luke Sital-Singh 11.00-11.40 Sunday James Blake 21.00-22.15 St Vincent 19.30-20.30 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band 18.00-19.00 Phosphorescent 16.30-17.30 Connan Mockasin 15.15-16.00 Juana Molina 14.10-14.55 Thunderbirds Are Go 13.00-13.40 Lau 12.00-12.40 The Rails 11.00-11.40 John Peel Stage Friday Kaiser Chiefs 22.45-23.45 Lykke Li 21.15-22.15 Chvrches 19.45-20.45 Wild Beasts 18.15-19.15 Crystal Fighters 17.00-17.50 Poliça 16.00-16.40 Temples 15.00-15.40 Drenge 14.00-14.40 Jungle 13.00-13.40 Money for Rope 11.50-12.30 Echo and the Empress 11.00-11.30 Saturday MGMT 22.45-23.45 Chromeo 21.15-22.15 Little Dragon 19.45-20.45 Clean Bandit 18.15-19.15 Courtney Barnett 17.00-17.40 Wolf Alice 16.00-16.40 Fat White Family 15.00-15.40 Royal Blood 14.00-14.40 Hozier 13.00-13.40 Reignwolf 11.55-12.40 The Black Tambourines 11.00-11.30 Sunday London Grammar 22.15-23.15 Chance the Rapper 20.45-21.45 The Brian Jonestown Massacre 19.15-20.15 Bleachers 18.05-18.50 King Charles 17.00-17.40 Dry the River 16.00-16.40 TBA 14.35-15.30 George Ezra 13.50-14.20 Lonely the Brave 12.50-13.30 The Preatures 11.50-12.30 Darlia 11.00-11.30 Acoustic Tent Friday Tinariwen 21.30-23.00 The Blues Band 20.00-21.00 Dr Feelgood 18.30-19.30 Fisherman's Friends 17.25-18.10 Tony Joe White 16.25-17.00 Holly Williams 15.30-16.10 Danny & the Champions of the World 14.30-15.10 Hozier 13.40-14.10 The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band 12.55-13.25 James Bay 12.00-12.40 Saturday Dexys 21.30-23.30 Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott 20.00-21.00 Nick Lowe 19.00-19.40 Kacey Musgraves 18.00-18.45 John Illsley and Band 16.40-17.40 Thea Gilmore 15.40-16.20 Ethan Johns 14.30-15.15 The Riptide Movement 13.20-14.10 Aoife O'Donovan 12.20-13.00 Hero Fisher 11.30-12.00 Sunday Suzanne Vega 22.30-23.30 Alison Moyet 21.10-22.10 Clannad 20.00-20.50 House Gospel Choir 18.50-19.40 Jake Bugg 17.35-18.30 Rainy Boy Sleep 16.15-17.15 Sturgill Simpson 15.00-15.45 Galia Arad 14.00-14.45 Booka Brass Band 13.00-13.40 The Henry Girls 12.00-12.40 Avalon Stage Friday The Selecter 23.15-0.25 Newton Faulkner 21.45-22.45 Sophie Ellis-Bextor 20.15-21.15 Hazel O'Connor 18.45-19.45 Hudson Taylor 17.15-18.15 Michael Kiwanuka 15.45-16.45 Blackbeard's Tea Party 14.20-15.15 Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs 13.00-13.55 Saturday Jonny Lang 23.15-00.25 Emilíana Torrini 21.45-22.45 Beth Orton 20.15-21.15 The Bad Shepherds 18.45-19.45 Skinny Lister 17.15-18.15 Dervish 15.45-16.45 Larkin Poe 14.15-15.15 Marika Hackman 12.50-13.45 Rusty Shackle 11.30-12.25 Sunday Peatbog Faeries 22.45-23.55 Dry the River 21.15-22.15 Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit 19.45-20.45 Gabrielle Aplin 18.15-19.15 North Mississippi Allstars 16.45-17.45 The Mariachis 15.15-16.15 3 Daft Monkeys 13.50-14.45 CC Smugglers 12.35-13.25 Gibson Bull 11.30-12.10

The stage times for this month’s Glastonbury festival have been revealed.

Scroll down for information on the timings for the Pyramid Stage, Other Stage, West Holts Stage, The Park Stage, John Peel Stage Acoustic Tent and Avalon Stage. Glastonbury 2014 takes place on Worthy Farm over June 27-29, with the gates to festival opening on June 25.

Pyramid Stage

Friday

Arcade Fire 22.00-23.45

Elbow 20.00-21.15

Lily Allen 18.30-19.30

Rudimental 16.45-17.45

De La Soul 15.15-16.15

Rodrigo y Gabriela 13.45-14.45

The War on Drugs 12.30-13.15

Turtle Island 11.30-12.10

Saturday

Metallica 21.45-23.45

Jack White 19.30-20.45

Robert Plant 17.30-18.45

Lana Del Rey 16.00-17.00

Kelis 14.30-15.20

Angel Haze 13.15-14.00

Nitin Sawhney 12.00-12.45

Nick Mulvey 11.00-11.40

Sunday

Kasabian 21.45-23.15

The Black Keys 19.45-21.00

Ed Sheeran 18.00-19.00

Dolly Parton 16.20-17.30

The 1975 14.45-15.35

Toumani & Sidiki 13.30-14.15

Caro Emerald 12.15-13.00

English National Ballet 11.30-11.50

Other Stage

Friday

Skrillex 22.30-23.45

Paolo Nutini 20.45-21.45

Interpol 19.15-20.15

Foster the People 17.50-18.50

Haim 16.25-17.20

Band of Skulls 15.10-16.00

John Newman 13.50-14.45

Blondie 12.15-13.20

TBA 11.00-11.45

Saturday

Jake Bugg 22.30-23.45

Pixies 21.00-22.00

Manic Street Preachers 19.30-20.30

Imagine Dragons 18.00-19.00

Kodaline 16.30-17.30

Warpaint 15.00-16.00

Midlake 13.40-14.30

Circa Waves 12.30-13.10

Jake Isaac 11.30-12.00

Sunday

Massive Attack 22.00-23.15

Ellie Goulding 20.30-21.30

Bombay Bicycle Club 18.50-19.50

The Horrors 17.20-18.20

Sam Smith 16.00-16.50

White Lies 14.40-15.30

Lucy Rose 13.30-14.10

The Subways 12.10-13.00

Bajofondo 11.00-11.40

West Holts Stage

Friday

MIA 22.15-23.45

Jurassic 5 20.30-21.30

Tune-Yards 19.00-20.00

Vintage Trouble 17.30-18.30

Sun Ra Arkestra 16.00-17.00

Deltron 3030 14.30-15.30

The Stepkids 13.00-14.00

The London Sinfonietta and Jonny Greenwood 11:10-12:30

Saturday

Bryan Ferry 22.15-23.45

Goldfrapp 20.30-21.30

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 19.00-20.00

The Daptone Super Soul Revue 16.30-18.30

The Internet 14.45-15.45

John Wizards 13.15-14.15

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band 11.45-12.45

Sunday

Disclosure 22.00-23.15

Bonobo 20.30-21.30

The Wailers 19.00-20.00

The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra 17.30-18.30

Public Service Broadcasting 16.00-17.00

Troker 14.30-15.30

Melt Yourself Down 13.00-14.00

M+A 11.45-12.30

The Park Stage

Friday

Metronomy 23.00-00.15

Four Tet 21.30-22.30

2 Bears (DJ set) 21.00-21.30

Danny Brown 20.00-21.00

Parquet Courts 18.30-19.30

Jimi Goodwin 17.00-18.00

Courtney Barnett 15.30-16.30

Don Cavalli 14.00-15.00

Bipolar Sunshine 12.45-13.30

All We Are 11.30-12.15

Saturday

Mogwai 23.00-00.15

John Grant 21.30-22.30

Anna Calvi 20.00-21.00

ESG 18.30-19.30

Jagwar Ma 17.00-18.00

Nina Persson 15.30-16.30

Cate Le Bon 14.10-15.00

Young Fathers 13.00-13.45

Vance Joy 12.00-12.40

Luke Sital-Singh 11.00-11.40

Sunday

James Blake 21.00-22.15

St Vincent 19.30-20.30

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band 18.00-19.00

Phosphorescent 16.30-17.30

Connan Mockasin 15.15-16.00

Juana Molina 14.10-14.55

Thunderbirds Are Go 13.00-13.40

Lau 12.00-12.40

The Rails 11.00-11.40

John Peel Stage

Friday

Kaiser Chiefs 22.45-23.45

Lykke Li 21.15-22.15

Chvrches 19.45-20.45

Wild Beasts 18.15-19.15

Crystal Fighters 17.00-17.50

Poliça 16.00-16.40

Temples 15.00-15.40

Drenge 14.00-14.40

Jungle 13.00-13.40

Money for Rope 11.50-12.30

Echo and the Empress 11.00-11.30

Saturday

MGMT 22.45-23.45

Chromeo 21.15-22.15

Little Dragon 19.45-20.45

Clean Bandit 18.15-19.15

Courtney Barnett 17.00-17.40

Wolf Alice 16.00-16.40

Fat White Family 15.00-15.40

Royal Blood 14.00-14.40

Hozier 13.00-13.40

Reignwolf 11.55-12.40

The Black Tambourines 11.00-11.30

Sunday

London Grammar 22.15-23.15

Chance the Rapper 20.45-21.45

The Brian Jonestown Massacre 19.15-20.15

Bleachers 18.05-18.50

King Charles 17.00-17.40

Dry the River 16.00-16.40

TBA 14.35-15.30

George Ezra 13.50-14.20

Lonely the Brave 12.50-13.30

The Preatures 11.50-12.30

Darlia 11.00-11.30

Acoustic Tent

Friday

Tinariwen 21.30-23.00

The Blues Band 20.00-21.00

Dr Feelgood 18.30-19.30

Fisherman’s Friends 17.25-18.10

Tony Joe White 16.25-17.00

Holly Williams 15.30-16.10

Danny & the Champions of the World 14.30-15.10

Hozier 13.40-14.10

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band 12.55-13.25

James Bay 12.00-12.40

Saturday

Dexys 21.30-23.30

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott 20.00-21.00

Nick Lowe 19.00-19.40

Kacey Musgraves 18.00-18.45

John Illsley and Band 16.40-17.40

Thea Gilmore 15.40-16.20

Ethan Johns 14.30-15.15

The Riptide Movement 13.20-14.10

Aoife O’Donovan 12.20-13.00

Hero Fisher 11.30-12.00

Sunday

Suzanne Vega 22.30-23.30

Alison Moyet 21.10-22.10

Clannad 20.00-20.50

House Gospel Choir 18.50-19.40

Jake Bugg 17.35-18.30

Rainy Boy Sleep 16.15-17.15

Sturgill Simpson 15.00-15.45

Galia Arad 14.00-14.45

Booka Brass Band 13.00-13.40

The Henry Girls 12.00-12.40

Avalon Stage

Friday

The Selecter 23.15-0.25

Newton Faulkner 21.45-22.45

Sophie Ellis-Bextor 20.15-21.15

Hazel O’Connor 18.45-19.45

Hudson Taylor 17.15-18.15

Michael Kiwanuka 15.45-16.45

Blackbeard’s Tea Party 14.20-15.15

Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs 13.00-13.55

Saturday

Jonny Lang 23.15-00.25

Emilíana Torrini 21.45-22.45

Beth Orton 20.15-21.15

The Bad Shepherds 18.45-19.45

Skinny Lister 17.15-18.15

Dervish 15.45-16.45

Larkin Poe 14.15-15.15

Marika Hackman 12.50-13.45

Rusty Shackle 11.30-12.25

Sunday

Peatbog Faeries 22.45-23.55

Dry the River 21.15-22.15

Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit 19.45-20.45

Gabrielle Aplin 18.15-19.15

North Mississippi Allstars 16.45-17.45

The Mariachis 15.15-16.15

3 Daft Monkeys 13.50-14.45

CC Smugglers 12.35-13.25

Gibson Bull 11.30-12.10

Michael Stipe reveals first new material since R.E.M. split

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5th June 2014

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Michael Stipe reveals first new material since R.E.M. split

Michael Stipe has revealed his first new music since REM split in 2011. Stipe has soundtracked a film called The Cold Lands, which is directed by his friend Tom Gilroy. "This is, in fact, the first thing that I’ve done musically since REM disbanded. So, of course, I wanted it to be for something ...

Michael Stipe has revealed his first new music since REM split in 2011.

Stipe has soundtracked a film called The Cold Lands, which is directed by his friend Tom Gilroy. “This is, in fact, the first thing that I’ve done musically since REM disbanded. So, of course, I wanted it to be for something that meant a lot to me. That was important… I knew I wasn’t going to sing, so that made it easier,” said Stipe to Salon, who are currently streaming a clip from the film, which features a snippet of Stipe’s soundtrack.

When speaking about his ideas for the soundtrack, he added: “I tried to bring groove… I probably would have done something much quieter. But I knew that he [Gilroy] wanted something that had a beat, so that was great because it really pushed me. I’m happy with where it landed. It felt to me like a great first project.

Stipe also commented on the fact that he was spotted at a show in Athens, Georgia last November watching his former bandmates Bill Berry, Mike Mills and Peter Buck play the REM song “Don’t Go Back To Rockville” at the 40 Watt. He said people were “walking up and asking me when I was going to get up on stage and I said, ‘I’m not. I’m here to see my friends do what they love to do.'”

When the band split Stipe said it was “unfathomable” that he would make a solo album. “It’s unfathomable to me right now. What would it sound like? Watered-down R.E.M?” he commented. Peter Buck also admitted he was sad that the band would never play together again, but insisted he couldn’t imagine them changing their minds over the decision to split.

On four albums by Mike Cooper…

John Mulvey

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5th June 2014

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I must confess that, until very recently, I hadn’t really heard of Mike Cooper; more evidence, I guess, of the apparently boundless reserves of records from the early ‘70s still to be reissued (the Bob Carpenter album, due to be released on No Quarter in the autumn, is another great example I should write about soon). For those of us interested in how roots music can intersect with the avant-garde, however, the rediscovery of British guitarist Cooper is a fortuitous one. His journey from folk and blues clubs (Cooper was approached to join The Rolling Stones at one, very early, stage) to the furthest reaches of esoterica began in the early ‘70s with three rare and rewarding albums. These albums, Trout Steel and Places I Know/Machine Gun Co are about to be reissued as two CDs by one of the most assiduous labels currently active, Paradise Of Bachelors. 1970’s Trout Steel showcases singer-songwriterly craftsmanship in the Bert Jansch mould, occasionally dissolving into free jazz drift (the 11-minute “I’ve Got Mine” is a fidgety, minimalist precursor of Wilco’s “Less Than You Think”). Places I Know (1971), meanwhile, is a good-natured retrenchment into Michael Chapman-ish folk rock, which also finds room for a spellbinding piano ballad, “Time To Time”, that would have done Bill Fay proud. Cooper originally envisaged Places I Know to be a double album with what turned out to be 1972’s Machine Gun Co (note the Brotzmann reference), and the pair are reunited for this reissue package. After the relative orthodoxy of the first set, Machine Gun is a rambunctious pursuit of Trout Steel’s wilder ideals, as sturdy songs – notably “So Glad (That I Found You)” – are repeatedly sent off onto knottier improv tangents. The reissues – and especially the questing aspects of Machine Gun Co – also act as a serendipitous prelude to Cantos De Lisboa, a hook-up with the busy Brooklyn guitarist, Steve Gunn, that’s the latest entry in RVNG INTL’s always interesting FRKWYS series (previous notable inter-generational collaborations have included the Sun Araw/Congos Jamaica project and, my personal favourite, the meditative freak-outs programmed by Blues Control and Laraaji). Cantos De Lisboa is ostensibly a collection of jams captured at Cooper’s home in Lisbon, in which his and Gunn’s shared love of country blues is entangled with Portuguese folk music and some brackish avant-garde tendencies. Cooper uses his lap-steel as an atmospheric tool, so much so that on the likes of “Lampedusa 2013” it takes on an abrasive, almost industrial timbre. For all the liberating experimentation, though, Cantos De Lisboa’s standout track is ironically its most conventional: “Pena Panorama”, an impressionistic piece sung by Gunn that recalls the exceptional “Old Strange” from his 2013 solo set, Time Off. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey Hear : <a href="http://rvng.bandcamp.com/album/frkwys-vol-11-steve-gunn-mike-cooper-cantos-de-lisboa">FRKWYS Vol. 11: Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper - Cantos de Lisboa by Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper</a>

I must confess that, until very recently, I hadn’t really heard of Mike Cooper; more evidence, I guess, of the apparently boundless reserves of records from the early ‘70s still to be reissued (the Bob Carpenter album, due to be released on No Quarter in the autumn, is another great example I should write about soon).

For those of us interested in how roots music can intersect with the avant-garde, however, the rediscovery of British guitarist Cooper is a fortuitous one. His journey from folk and blues clubs (Cooper was approached to join The Rolling Stones at one, very early, stage) to the furthest reaches of esoterica began in the early ‘70s with three rare and rewarding albums. These albums, Trout Steel and Places I Know/Machine Gun Co are about to be reissued as two CDs by one of the most assiduous labels currently active, Paradise Of Bachelors.

1970’s Trout Steel showcases singer-songwriterly craftsmanship in the Bert Jansch mould, occasionally dissolving into free jazz drift (the 11-minute “I’ve Got Mine” is a fidgety, minimalist precursor of Wilco’s “Less Than You Think”). Places I Know (1971), meanwhile, is a good-natured retrenchment into Michael Chapman-ish folk rock, which also finds room for a spellbinding piano ballad, “Time To Time”, that would have done Bill Fay proud. Cooper originally envisaged Places I Know to be a double album with what turned out to be 1972’s Machine Gun Co (note the Brotzmann reference), and the pair are reunited for this reissue package. After the relative orthodoxy of the first set, Machine Gun is a rambunctious pursuit of Trout Steel’s wilder ideals, as sturdy songs – notably “So Glad (That I Found You)” – are repeatedly sent off onto knottier improv tangents.

The reissues – and especially the questing aspects of Machine Gun Co – also act as a serendipitous prelude to Cantos De Lisboa, a hook-up with the busy Brooklyn guitarist, Steve Gunn, that’s the latest entry in RVNG INTL’s always interesting FRKWYS series (previous notable inter-generational collaborations have included the Sun Araw/Congos Jamaica project and, my personal favourite, the meditative freak-outs programmed by Blues Control and Laraaji).

Cantos De Lisboa is ostensibly a collection of jams captured at Cooper’s home in Lisbon, in which his and Gunn’s shared love of country blues is entangled with Portuguese folk music and some brackish avant-garde tendencies. Cooper uses his lap-steel as an atmospheric tool, so much so that on the likes of “Lampedusa 2013” it takes on an abrasive, almost industrial timbre. For all the liberating experimentation, though, Cantos De Lisboa’s standout track is ironically its most conventional: “Pena Panorama”, an impressionistic piece sung by Gunn that recalls the exceptional “Old Strange” from his 2013 solo set, Time Off.

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Hear : <a href="http://rvng.bandcamp.com/album/frkwys-vol-11-steve-gunn-mike-cooper-cantos-de-lisboa">FRKWYS Vol. 11: Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper – Cantos de Lisboa by Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper</a>

Watch Jack White’s new video for “Lazaretto”

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4th June 2014

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Watch Jack White’s new video for “Lazaretto”

Jack White has released a video for the lead single and title track off his new album, Lazaretto. Scroll down to the watch it. The video is directed by Jonas & François, the French directing team whose credits including Kanye West, Depeche Mode and Muse. A 7” vinyl single of “Lazaretto�...

Jack White has released a video for the lead single and title track off his new album, Lazaretto.

Scroll down to the watch it.

The video is directed by Jonas & François, the French directing team whose credits including Kanye West, Depeche Mode and Muse.

A 7” vinyl single of “Lazaretto”, featuring the exclusive non-album b-side cover of Elvis Presley’s “Power of My Love”, is available to pre-order.

You can watch White perform another track from the album, “Temporary Ground“, here.

The tracklisting for Lazaretto is:

“Three Women”

“Lazaretto”

“Temporary Ground”

“Would You Fight for My Love?”

“High Ball Stepper”

“Just One Drink”

“Alone in My Home”

“Entitlement”

“That Black Bat Licorice”

“I Think I Found the Culprit”

“Want and Able”

The album is released on June 9 via Third Man Records/XL Recordings.

Exclusive! The Beatles unveil cinema poster for A Hard Day’s Night 50th anniversary restoration

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4th June 2014

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Exclusive! The Beatles unveil cinema poster for A Hard Day’s Night 50th anniversary restoration

The Beatles' debut feature film, A Hard Day's Night, is to be re-released to commemorate its 50th anniversary. A new poster has been designed to accompany the re-release, which you can see at the top of the story. The A Hard Day's Night 50th anniversary restoration will have an extended run at Lo...

The Beatles‘ debut feature film, A Hard Day’s Night, is to be re-released to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

A new poster has been designed to accompany the re-release, which you can see at the top of the story.

The A Hard Day’s Night 50th anniversary restoration will have an extended run at London’s BFI Southbank from July 4, with a special preview and talk with director Richard Lester on July 3.

Tickets are available here.

It will be in cinemas, on-demand and available to download from July 4, followed by a special edition Blu-ray and DVD release on July 21.

The DVD Extras are:

* ‘In Their Own Voices’: a new piece combining 1964 interviews with The Beatles with Behind The Scenes footage and photos

* ‘You Can’t Do That’: The Making Of A Hard Day’s Night, a documentary by producer Walter Shenson including an outtake performance by The Beatles

* ‘Things The Said Today’: a documentary about the film featuring Richard Lester, George Martin, screenwriter Alun Owen and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor

* ‘Picturewise’: A new piece about Richard Lester’s early work featuring a new audio interview with the director

* ‘Anatomy Of A Style’: a new piece on Lester’s methods

* New interview with author Mark Lewisohn

* Audio commentary featuring cast and crew

Nick Cave announces rare solo shows

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4th June 2014

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Nick Cave has announced he will play three special solo piano sets after advanced screenings of a new documentary about the singer, 20,000 Days On Earth. Rolling Stone reports that Cave will play after screenings in Los Angeles (July 10), Montreal (August 1) and New York (August 4). He will also pa...

Nick Cave has announced he will play three special solo piano sets after advanced screenings of a new documentary about the singer, 20,000 Days On Earth.

Rolling Stone reports that Cave will play after screenings in Los Angeles (July 10), Montreal (August 1) and New York (August 4). He will also participate in Q+As at the same shows.

The documentary, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, will be released in the UK on September 19.

You can read our first look preview of 20,000 Days On Earth here.

Cave is confirmed to take part in satellite broadcast to UK cinemas on September 17, which will include a preview of 20,000 Days On Earth followed by an exclusive event featuring Nick Cave plus special guests.

Metallica defend Glastonbury set: “The fact that everybody’s got an opinion means people still care”

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4th June 2014

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Metallica defend Glastonbury set: “The fact that everybody’s got an opinion means people still care”

Metallica have defended their Glastonbury headline set, with drummer Lars Ulrich saying that the fact that people are debating the slot means "people still care". Speaking on Radio 1's Rock Show, Ulrich commented: "The fact that everyone's got an opinion I'll take as a good thing because it means t...

Metallica have defended their Glastonbury headline set, with drummer Lars Ulrich saying that the fact that people are debating the slot means “people still care”.

Speaking on Radio 1’s Rock Show, Ulrich commented: “The fact that everyone’s got an opinion I’ll take as a good thing because it means that people still care and are still interested and we still have one foot in relevance of some sort.”

He added: “It’s comforting that 33 years into a career you can still mange to stir it up a little bit. Glastonbury is the biggest, greatest festival on this planet and we’re headlining Saturday night. Bring it on. We’re going to show up and have fun but all the hoopla is interesting.”

The most recent band to criticise Metallica over their upcoming show is Mogwai who dismissed them as being “unbelievably bad.” The Scottish band will headline The Park Stage at Glastonbury on the same night (Saturday) Metallica perform on The Pyramid Stage.

Hear new Morrissey track, “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet”

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4th June 2014

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Hear new Morrissey track, “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet”

Morrissey is streaming a new song, "Earth Is The Loneliest Planet". Click below to listen to the track via Spotify, which was recently trailed with a spoken word video starring Pamela Anderson. Morrissey's upcoming LP World Peace Is None Of Your Business will be released later this year on July ...

Morrissey is streaming a new song, “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet“.

Click below to listen to the track via Spotify, which was recently trailed with a spoken word video starring Pamela Anderson.

Morrissey’s upcoming LP World Peace Is None Of Your Business will be released later this year on July 14. The full tracklisting for the album can be seen below.

Meanwhile, Morrissey is reportedly appealing for a new music publisher after his current deal of 30 years ended.

The singer had a deal with Warner-Chappell Music that covered both The Smiths and his solo output and lasted the last 30 years. However, quasi-official Morrissey fansite True-To-You reports that his deal has come to a close and that he is now looking for a new one. Interested parties are asked to contact ivoryenquiries@outlook.com for more information.

The World Peace Is None Of Your Business tracklisting is:

‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’

‘Neal Cassady Drops Dead’

‘Istanbul’

‘I’m Not A Man’

‘Earth Is The Loneliest Planet’

‘Staircase At The University’

‘The Bullfighter Dies’

‘Kiss Me A Lot’

‘Smiler With Knife’

‘Kick The Bride Down the Aisle’

‘Mountjoy’

‘Oboe Concerto’

Reviewed: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, “Dereconstructed”

John Mulvey

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4th June 2014

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Reviewed: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, “Dereconstructed”

Deep into 2001’s Southern Rock Opera , there’s a point where Patterson Hood produces a mission statement for the Drive-By Truckers – and for an enlightened generation of bands from below the Mason-Dixon line. “You think I'm dumb, maybe not too bright,” he sings, “You wonder how I sleep at night/Proud of the glory, stare down the shame/Duality of the southern thing.” Lee Bains III, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, has a good story about sneaking into a Truckers show with a fake ID when he was 16. He talks about how his father had taught him to love Lynyrd Skynyrd, about how “they so easily evoked in me a pure love for my home and culture, though a line of faceless, n-bomb-dropping, rebel-flag-waving dudes made Skynyrd lose their lustre in my teenage years.” At the Truckers gig, though, Bains saw “scuzzy rocker dudes in cowboy boots and ballcaps hollering along to words about the duality of the Southern identity, and [Segregationist Governor of Alabama] George Wallace burning in Hell. I remember feeling a sense of solidarity and thinking, maybe this is what Daddy experienced with those bands when he was in high school.” For “the duality of the southern thing,” read Dereconstructed, the second Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires album and a potent, articulate attempt at reconciling southern traditions – regional pride, faith, virility, massed keening guitars – with a more progressive political outlook. “We were raised on ancient truths, and ugly old lies,” begins the agenda-setting title track, two-and-a-half minutes which encapsulate the Glory Fires’ ferocious and economic approach to Southern Rock. Virtuosity proliferates, but you won’t find a “Mountain Jam” in the taut 36 minutes of Dereconstructed. Following an apprenticeship playing guitar in The Dexateens (bandmate Matt Patton now plays bass in The Drive-By Truckers), Bains struck out on his own with 2012’s There Is A Bomb In Gilead, a rowdy and soulful take on the Muscle Shoals sound that put most of the Black Keys’ similar efforts to shame. “We Dare Defend Our Rights” upgrades that concept on Dereconstructed, in a generally tighter, harder and more anthemic set. Besides the omnipresent spirit of Skynyrd, a firm grasp of The Rolling Stones remains prominent: “What’s Good And Gone” betrays particularly assiduous study of “Gimme Shelter”. But the pace is often wilder and rooted in punk - references to The Replacements and early Jason & The Scorchers seem plausible - so that “Flags” delivers its indictment of old Southern bigotries at virtual hardcore speed. And while “Mississippi Bottomland” might have the air-punching clout of an old AC/DC track (“Hell’s Bells”, maybe?), Tim Kerr’s garage-rock production aesthetic means that The Glory Fires are unlikely to be mistaken for the mainstream’s latest Southern Rock archetypes, Blackberry Smoke. Southern Rock has always poeticised and ennobled the plight of the working man: Blackberry Smoke’s “One Horse Town” is typical, even if it sounds rather like a countrified Bon Jovi. Bains, though, goes deeper into exposing the reasons for that plight. “Hear the poets and professors/Postulate how we all got so robbed,” he notes amidst the Biblical imagery and anti-corporate rhetoric of “The Company Man”, before nailing Southern poverty as a direct result of the region’s historic political intransigence in “What’s Good And Gone”: “We dug in to our sin ’til we were drinking muddy water and eating shoestrings.” The record company biography that posits Bains as “Ronnie Van Zant under the tutelage of Noam Chomsky” might be pushing it a little. With his excellent band, Bains is a defiant romantic as much as a realist, one who mythologises the honeysuckle vines and Queen Anne’s Lace flowers of his hometown while ruefully admitting that “the new architecture’s largely depressing/And the politics are pretty regressive.” As “The Weeds Downtown” goes on, though, and the twin lead guitars rear up one more time, Bains finds droll solace in improving crime statistics and the fact that the population decline is, at last, “stagnating”. “I know that Birmingham gets you down,” he sings, a master of qualified pride, “but look what it raised you up to be.” • I recently conducted an email interview with Lee Bains here. Very articulate and interesting man, I think. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey PICTURE: Wes Evans

Deep into 2001’s Southern Rock Opera , there’s a point where Patterson Hood produces a mission statement for the Drive-By Truckers – and for an enlightened generation of bands from below the Mason-Dixon line. “You think I’m dumb, maybe not too bright,” he sings, “You wonder how I sleep at night/Proud of the glory, stare down the shame/Duality of the southern thing.”

Lee Bains III, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, has a good story about sneaking into a Truckers show with a fake ID when he was 16. He talks about how his father had taught him to love Lynyrd Skynyrd, about how “they so easily evoked in me a pure love for my home and culture, though a line of faceless, n-bomb-dropping, rebel-flag-waving dudes made Skynyrd lose their lustre in my teenage years.”

At the Truckers gig, though, Bains saw “scuzzy rocker dudes in cowboy boots and ballcaps hollering along to words about the duality of the Southern identity, and [Segregationist Governor of Alabama] George Wallace burning in Hell. I remember feeling a sense of solidarity and thinking, maybe this is what Daddy experienced with those bands when he was in high school.”

For “the duality of the southern thing,” read Dereconstructed, the second Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires album and a potent, articulate attempt at reconciling southern traditions – regional pride, faith, virility, massed keening guitars – with a more progressive political outlook. “We were raised on ancient truths, and ugly old lies,” begins the agenda-setting title track, two-and-a-half minutes which encapsulate the Glory Fires’ ferocious and economic approach to Southern Rock.

Virtuosity proliferates, but you won’t find a “Mountain Jam” in the taut 36 minutes of Dereconstructed. Following an apprenticeship playing guitar in The Dexateens (bandmate Matt Patton now plays bass in The Drive-By Truckers), Bains struck out on his own with 2012’s There Is A Bomb In Gilead, a rowdy and soulful take on the Muscle Shoals sound that put most of the Black Keys’ similar efforts to shame. “We Dare Defend Our Rights” upgrades that concept on Dereconstructed, in a generally tighter, harder and more anthemic set.

Besides the omnipresent spirit of Skynyrd, a firm grasp of The Rolling Stones remains prominent: “What’s Good And Gone” betrays particularly assiduous study of “Gimme Shelter”. But the pace is often wilder and rooted in punk – references to The Replacements and early Jason & The Scorchers seem plausible – so that “Flags” delivers its indictment of old Southern bigotries at virtual hardcore speed. And while “Mississippi Bottomland” might have the air-punching clout of an old AC/DC track (“Hell’s Bells”, maybe?), Tim Kerr’s garage-rock production aesthetic means that The Glory Fires are unlikely to be mistaken for the mainstream’s latest Southern Rock archetypes, Blackberry Smoke.

Southern Rock has always poeticised and ennobled the plight of the working man: Blackberry Smoke’s “One Horse Town” is typical, even if it sounds rather like a countrified Bon Jovi. Bains, though, goes deeper into exposing the reasons for that plight. “Hear the poets and professors/Postulate how we all got so robbed,” he notes amidst the Biblical imagery and anti-corporate rhetoric of “The Company Man”, before nailing Southern poverty as a direct result of the region’s historic political intransigence in “What’s Good And Gone”: “We dug in to our sin ’til we were drinking muddy water and eating shoestrings.”

The record company biography that posits Bains as “Ronnie Van Zant under the tutelage of Noam Chomsky” might be pushing it a little. With his excellent band, Bains is a defiant romantic as much as a realist, one who mythologises the honeysuckle vines and Queen Anne’s Lace flowers of his hometown while ruefully admitting that “the new architecture’s largely depressing/And the politics are pretty regressive.”

As “The Weeds Downtown” goes on, though, and the twin lead guitars rear up one more time, Bains finds droll solace in improving crime statistics and the fact that the population decline is, at last, “stagnating”. “I know that Birmingham gets you down,” he sings, a master of qualified pride, “but look what it raised you up to be.”

• I recently conducted an email interview with Lee Bains here. Very articulate and interesting man, I think.

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

PICTURE: Wes Evans

Wreckless Eric – Le Beat Groupe Electrique / The Donovan Of Trash

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3rd June 2014

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Wreckless Eric – Le Beat Groupe Electrique / The Donovan Of Trash

The whole wide world, captured via the lo-fi blues... He wasn’t as career-savvy as Elvis Costello, or as prolific as Nick Lowe, but on the (admittedly slim) body of evidence, Eric Goulden, aka Wreckless Eric, was the pop heart of Stiff Records back in the early ’80s. Not that he’s particularly bothered by the way things panned out: “Obviously Nick, and Elvis particularly have had the kind of huge commercial success that some say has eluded me. But I think that’s the wrong way to look at it – if there was any eluding being done it was me that was doing it – I was eluding commercial success.” By the time of 1989’s Le Beat Group Electrique, then, Goulden was definitely on the path lesser travelled: he’d stopped singing from his bedroom out to the world, and instead, now sang about the world of his bedroom. This meant a clutch of swooning love songs, coupled with studies that dissect sex with an almost forensic eye, and reflections on recent personal turbulence: “The songs were pretty much reflections on the aftermath of a nervous breakdown, me rebuilding my life. Falling in and out of love, going crazy, seeking retribution.” Le Beat Group Electrique was recorded on four-track, extending the rough-as-guts quality of its preceding Len Bright Combo albums into even more personal territory. Albums like Electrique and its wilder, rougher follow-up, The Donovan Of Trash are Goulden at both his best and most direct; with none of the obfuscation of studio recording that occasionally blighted his early records for Stiff, the lo-fi sensibility of these records paradoxically sharpens the tongue of his songs. Indeed, The Donovan Of Trash feels like a particularly smart self-acknowledgement on Goulden’s part. We can thank a gig from 1991 for his assumption of the mantle: “It was a great show, complete mayhem, tenderness, poetry, brutality in equal parts – the guitar was almost vibrating itself to pieces, and in between frenetic bursts of electric harmonica, I found myself shouting: “I AM... THE DONOVAN OF TRASH!” And I thought, ‘Hey, that’s a good album title!’” Jon Dale

The whole wide world, captured via the lo-fi blues…

He wasn’t as career-savvy as Elvis Costello, or as prolific as Nick Lowe, but on the (admittedly slim) body of evidence, Eric Goulden, aka Wreckless Eric, was the pop heart of Stiff Records back in the early ’80s. Not that he’s particularly bothered by the way things panned out: “Obviously Nick, and Elvis particularly have had the kind of huge commercial success that some say has eluded me. But I think that’s the wrong way to look at it – if there was any eluding being done it was me that was doing it – I was eluding commercial success.”

By the time of 1989’s Le Beat Group Electrique, then, Goulden was definitely on the path lesser travelled: he’d stopped singing from his bedroom out to the world, and instead, now sang about the world of his bedroom. This meant a clutch of swooning love songs, coupled with studies that dissect sex with an almost forensic eye, and reflections on recent personal turbulence: “The songs were pretty much reflections on the aftermath of a nervous breakdown, me rebuilding my life. Falling in and out of love, going crazy, seeking retribution.” Le Beat Group Electrique was recorded on four-track, extending the rough-as-guts quality of its preceding Len Bright Combo albums into even more personal territory.

Albums like Electrique and its wilder, rougher follow-up, The Donovan Of Trash are Goulden at both his best and most direct; with none of the obfuscation of studio recording that occasionally blighted his early records for Stiff, the lo-fi sensibility of these records paradoxically sharpens the tongue of his songs. Indeed, The Donovan Of Trash feels like a particularly smart self-acknowledgement on Goulden’s part. We can thank a gig from 1991 for his assumption of the mantle: “It was a great show, complete mayhem, tenderness, poetry, brutality in equal parts – the guitar was almost vibrating itself to pieces, and in between frenetic bursts of electric harmonica, I found myself shouting: “I AM… THE DONOVAN OF TRASH!” And I thought, ‘Hey, that’s a good album title!’”

Jon Dale

“How does it feel to be pathologised?”: “The Dylanologists” reviewed

John Mulvey

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3rd June 2014

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“How does it feel to be pathologised?”: “The Dylanologists” reviewed

How does it feel, to be pathologised? A few of you might wonder as much, picking up with some trepidation David Kinney’s “The Dylanologists: Adventures In The Land Of Bob”. For here is a book that purports to expose the eccentricities of Bob Dylan’s most obsessive fans, who – imagine! - spend all their money on bootlegs, rarities and ephemera, follow the Neverending Tour around the world, crowd the front rows of his gigs, meticulously work through his lyrics for meaning and echo. Not to be paranoid here, but is Kinney talking about us? He is, of course, or about some of us. “The Dylanologists”, though, is an open-hearted attempt to understand the nature of fandom, and the nature of Dylan himself, rather than a work of ridicule or hack-psychoanalysis. Indeed, there’s a good argument to be made for Dylan himself emerging as one of the book’s strangest characters, as he forlornly does doughnuts on his motorbike in an empty parking lot. Throughout, he is captured finessing his enigma with a zeal that even his most dedicated followers would struggle to match. “No other performer fucks with his fans like Bob Dylan,” argues one fan, Peter Stone Brown (brother of the “Blood On The Tracks”-era bassist, Tony Brown). One suspects that a few Neil Young loyalists might have a different opinion, but perhaps that’s a clue to true obsession: not only is the object of your affection the most talented artist extant, they also must at least appear to be the most difficult and contrary. Kinney is particularly good at detailing the research of Dylanologists like Scott Warmuth (www.swarmuth.blogspot.co.uk), who see their subject as a fairground illusionist, a fiendish riddle-setter. Unlike some, Warmuth isn’t interested in looking for what Kinney calls “an answer key or a master code”. A complete and transparent understanding of Dylan is not his goal. Instead, “He was having the time of his life working out an elaborately-constructed puzzle linking his twin loves, music and books.” Warmuth, a DJ in Albuquerque, fossicks through Google, chasing down lines and phrases in Dylan’s writing. He finds allusions to Virgil, and to New Orleans travel guides, to arcane carny slang and 1961 editions of Time magazine. Most amusingly, he divines evidence in “Chronicles” of a self-help book called “The 48 Laws Of Power”, specifically the section titled “The Science Of Charlatanism, Or How To Create A Cult In Five Easy Steps”. As he lays merry waste to “Love And Theft” and subsequent Dylan records, Warmuth starts off endless fights within the Dylanverse, as some become charmed by the man’s sleight-of-hand appropriations while others, disillusioned, believe he has become nothing more than a plagiarist. Dylan fans, in one of the book’s least surprising revelations, are a volatile and argumentative bunch, and combat – over a space in the front row, say – is a recurrent theme in “The Dylanologists”. Kinney is consistently good, though, at humanising his subjects, providing engaging backstories that add context to what can seem, in isolation, somewhat bizarre behaviour: the forensic preparations of bootleggers; the expensive purchase of Dylan’s high chair; the fanzine with a fixed circulation of 12 copies. The editor of the last, John Stokes, writes a 23-part series, totalling 65,000 words, focused entirely on “Visions Of Johanna”. “In part 22,” notes Kinney, “he confessed to having second thoughts about his conclusions.” There are, necessarily, more extreme stories in “Dylanologists”, and the trash-digging AJ Weberman hovers uncomfortably around the action, the paranoid extremist against whom Dylan fans must always measure their behaviour. Kinney is a friend and fellow traveller, though, fastidious in avoiding freakshow exposés, and his book never becomes a kind of rhinestone-and-buckskin sequel to Fred And Judy Vermorel’s “Starlust”. If there’s a recent parallel, it’s John Jeremiah Sullivan’s brilliant detective piece in the New York Times, “The Ballad Of Geeshie And Elvie”, with its description of the world of neurotic blues scholars. “Nostalgia,” says Mitch Blank, one of Kinney’s most engaging subjects, “is a mild form of depression.” “The Dylanologists” is by no means a perfect book. Even the singer’s more dilettante-ish fans may find themselves frustrated by Kinney retelling great chunks of the Dylan story as a means of structuring his narrative, useful though it is to be reminded that Dylan himself has behaved like a stalkerish fan (towards Woody Guthrie, in particular). But along the way, there are vignettes and observations that make him seem closer than usual to human, even fallible: what kind of recluse leaves a ticket at every show for a woman calling herself Sara Dylan, who once scammed 18 rooms on a record company account? “People want to know where I’m at, because they don’t know where they’re at,” Kinney reports Dylan telling one interviewer. “The Dylanologists” approaches the problem from a crafty new angle, and makes a little more headway than usual. It is, again, Scott Warmuth who points the way to a potentially more useful, less emotive understanding of his prey - as a brilliant and slippery literary trickster, collagist and master of subterfuge, for whom the games might just conceivably be more significant than the solutions. Before I go, I should explain my presence here. As of this week, Allan Jones has become Uncut’s Editor-At-Large, and I’m honoured and more than a little daunted to step into his old role as the mag’s Editor. I’ll try and continue to blog regularly – I also post playlists of everything we’ve listened to here in the office once a week – but in the meantime you can follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey . Also, please send in your letters for potential publication to our new email address – uncut_feedback@ipcmedia.com. Your memories and tributes to Allan will, of course, be especially welcome. Thanks…

How does it feel, to be pathologised? A few of you might wonder as much, picking up with some trepidation David Kinney’s “The Dylanologists: Adventures In The Land Of Bob”. For here is a book that purports to expose the eccentricities of Bob Dylan’s most obsessive fans, who – imagine! – spend all their money on bootlegs, rarities and ephemera, follow the Neverending Tour around the world, crowd the front rows of his gigs, meticulously work through his lyrics for meaning and echo. Not to be paranoid here, but is Kinney talking about us?

He is, of course, or about some of us. “The Dylanologists”, though, is an open-hearted attempt to understand the nature of fandom, and the nature of Dylan himself, rather than a work of ridicule or hack-psychoanalysis. Indeed, there’s a good argument to be made for Dylan himself emerging as one of the book’s strangest characters, as he forlornly does doughnuts on his motorbike in an empty parking lot. Throughout, he is captured finessing his enigma with a zeal that even his most dedicated followers would struggle to match.

“No other performer fucks with his fans like Bob Dylan,” argues one fan, Peter Stone Brown (brother of the “Blood On The Tracks”-era bassist, Tony Brown). One suspects that a few Neil Young loyalists might have a different opinion, but perhaps that’s a clue to true obsession: not only is the object of your affection the most talented artist extant, they also must at least appear to be the most difficult and contrary.

Kinney is particularly good at detailing the research of Dylanologists like Scott Warmuth (www.swarmuth.blogspot.co.uk), who see their subject as a fairground illusionist, a fiendish riddle-setter. Unlike some, Warmuth isn’t interested in looking for what Kinney calls “an answer key or a master code”. A complete and transparent understanding of Dylan is not his goal. Instead, “He was having the time of his life working out an elaborately-constructed puzzle linking his twin loves, music and books.”

Warmuth, a DJ in Albuquerque, fossicks through Google, chasing down lines and phrases in Dylan’s writing. He finds allusions to Virgil, and to New Orleans travel guides, to arcane carny slang and 1961 editions of Time magazine. Most amusingly, he divines evidence in “Chronicles” of a self-help book called “The 48 Laws Of Power”, specifically the section titled “The Science Of Charlatanism, Or How To Create A Cult In Five Easy Steps”.

As he lays merry waste to “Love And Theft” and subsequent Dylan records, Warmuth starts off endless fights within the Dylanverse, as some become charmed by the man’s sleight-of-hand appropriations while others, disillusioned, believe he has become nothing more than a plagiarist.

Dylan fans, in one of the book’s least surprising revelations, are a volatile and argumentative bunch, and combat – over a space in the front row, say – is a recurrent theme in “The Dylanologists”. Kinney is consistently good, though, at humanising his subjects, providing engaging backstories that add context to what can seem, in isolation, somewhat bizarre behaviour: the forensic preparations of bootleggers; the expensive purchase of Dylan’s high chair; the fanzine with a fixed circulation of 12 copies. The editor of the last, John Stokes, writes a 23-part series, totalling 65,000 words, focused entirely on “Visions Of Johanna”. “In part 22,” notes Kinney, “he confessed to having second thoughts about his conclusions.”

There are, necessarily, more extreme stories in “Dylanologists”, and the trash-digging AJ Weberman hovers uncomfortably around the action, the paranoid extremist against whom Dylan fans must always measure their behaviour. Kinney is a friend and fellow traveller, though, fastidious in avoiding freakshow exposés, and his book never becomes a kind of rhinestone-and-buckskin sequel to Fred And Judy Vermorel’s “Starlust”. If there’s a recent parallel, it’s John Jeremiah Sullivan’s brilliant detective piece in the New York Times, “The Ballad Of Geeshie And Elvie”, with its description of the world of neurotic blues scholars. “Nostalgia,” says Mitch Blank, one of Kinney’s most engaging subjects, “is a mild form of depression.”

“The Dylanologists” is by no means a perfect book. Even the singer’s more dilettante-ish fans may find themselves frustrated by Kinney retelling great chunks of the Dylan story as a means of structuring his narrative, useful though it is to be reminded that Dylan himself has behaved like a stalkerish fan (towards Woody Guthrie, in particular). But along the way, there are vignettes and observations that make him seem closer than usual to human, even fallible: what kind of recluse leaves a ticket at every show for a woman calling herself Sara Dylan, who once scammed 18 rooms on a record company account?

“People want to know where I’m at, because they don’t know where they’re at,” Kinney reports Dylan telling one interviewer. “The Dylanologists” approaches the problem from a crafty new angle, and makes a little more headway than usual. It is, again, Scott Warmuth who points the way to a potentially more useful, less emotive understanding of his prey – as a brilliant and slippery literary trickster, collagist and master of subterfuge, for whom the games might just conceivably be more significant than the solutions.

Before I go, I should explain my presence here. As of this week, Allan Jones has become Uncut’s Editor-At-Large, and I’m honoured and more than a little daunted to step into his old role as the mag’s Editor. I’ll try and continue to blog regularly – I also post playlists of everything we’ve listened to here in the office once a week – but in the meantime you can follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey . Also, please send in your letters for potential publication to our new email address – uncut_feedback@ipcmedia.com. Your memories and tributes to Allan will, of course, be especially welcome. Thanks…

Watch Jack White perform new song, “Temporary Ground”

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3rd June 2014

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Watch Jack White perform new song, “Temporary Ground”

Jack White has been playing a new song, "Temporary Ground", while on tour in America. Click below to watch footage of White performing the track last night (June 1) on stage in Houston, Texas. The song features on White's new album Lazaretto, which is released on June 9. White recently wrote an op...

Jack White has been playing a new song, “Temporary Ground”, while on tour in America.

Click below to watch footage of White performing the track last night (June 1) on stage in Houston, Texas. The song features on White’s new album Lazaretto, which is released on June 9.

White recently wrote an open letter on his website apologising for comments he made about The Black Keys in a recent interview as well as in private correspondence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuxvQDnNHd0

Wilko Johnson making ‘excellent progress’ after recent operation

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3rd June 2014

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Wilko Johnson making ‘excellent progress’ after recent operation

Wilko Johnson is reportedly making "excellent progress" after an operation on April 30 to have a pancreatic tumour removed. Johnson is currently convalescing at home after the procedure at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridgeshire. A statement on the Dr Feelgood Facebook reads: "We're sure you wil...

Wilko Johnson is reportedly making “excellent progress” after an operation on April 30 to have a pancreatic tumour removed.

Johnson is currently convalescing at home after the procedure at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridgeshire. A statement on the Dr Feelgood Facebook reads:

“We’re sure you will be as delighted as we are that after making excellent progress at Addenbrooke’s over the last few weeks, Wilko is now convalescing back at his home. Naturally after such an extensive procedure, Wilko is extremely tired, and it will take him some time to recuperate, so he asks that you respect his privacy, but we had to share this incredibly positive news. On behalf of Wilko and his family, another huge thank you for your magnificent support over recent months – it really means a great deal to Wilko – and please join us in thanking the staff at Addenbrooke’s for everything they have achieved in some extremely difficult circumstances.”

Johnson underwent a nine-hour operation earlier last month. Johnson cancelled all of his future live shows and public engagements to undergo the procedure. He was scheduled to make several festival appearances this summer, including Glastonbury, but “reluctantly” pulled his commitments to go into hospital.

Photo credit: Brian David Stevens

King Crimson announce first live shows of 2014

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3rd June 2014

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King Crimson announce first live shows of 2014

King Crimson have announced they will play a series of live shows later this year. According to Rolling Stone, they will play New York's Best Buy Theater on September 18, 19 and 20. Tickets will go on sale Friday, June 6, at noon EST. However, there are reports claiming these are not the only date...

King Crimson have announced they will play a series of live shows later this year.

According to Rolling Stone, they will play New York’s Best Buy Theater on September 18, 19 and 20. Tickets will go on sale Friday, June 6, at noon EST.

However, there are reports claiming these are not the only dates. Brookyn Vegan have also listed two dates on September 9 and 10 at The Egg in Albany, New York.

The website for Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center carry King Crimson dates for September 12 and 13, while the website for Seattle’s Moore Theatre, have announced a show on October 6.

This is the complete list of reported King Crimson dates so far:

September 9 & 10 @ The Egg – Albany, NY

September 12 & 13 @ Kimmel Center – Philadelphia, PA

September 18, 19 & 20 @ Best Buy Theater – New York, NY

October 6 @ Moore Theatre – Seattle, WA

Announcing his plans to reform the band last year in Uncut, Robert Fripp said, “King Crimson is returning to active service. We are on-call to be ready for a live performance on September 1, 2014. Seven members. Four English, three American. Three drummers. It’s a different configuration of King Crimson than before. Some are familiar names, maybe more than others.”

This line-up – the 8th in the band’s history – will be Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Mel Collins and Jakko Jakszyk.

They are all former Crimson members, except Rieflin and Jakszyk who have been involved on the fringes of Crimson for a few years. Rieflin collaborated with Chris Wong, Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox in a project called The Humans, while Jakszyk played in Jakszyk Fripp & Collins, alongside Robert Fripp and Mel Collins.

Fripp went on to say, “The first performance will take place in either North or South America,” Fripp told Uncut. “There will be rehearsals primarily in England, and the final batch of rehearsals will most likely be in America in August or September 2014. There is a plan to include the UK in the tour dates, but it depends on a number of circumstances. Right now the primary geographical focus is the United States.”

The cover of Neil Young’s latest memoir revealed

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2nd June 2014

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The cover of Neil Young’s latest memoir revealed

The front cover artwork of Neil Young's latest memoir has appeared online. Young fansite Thrasher's Wheat carry the imagine of Special Deluxe - A Memoir of Life & Cars, from the Instagram account of website Rock Book Show. Special Deluxe - A Memoir of Life & Cars is the follow-up to Waging Heavy Peace and is due for publication in the Autumn. Young recently released his latest album, A Letter Home. You can read Uncut's review here.

The front cover artwork of Neil Young‘s latest memoir has appeared online.

Young fansite Thrasher’s Wheat carry the imagine of Special Deluxe – A Memoir of Life & Cars, from the Instagram account of website Rock Book Show.

Special Deluxe – A Memoir of Life & Cars is the follow-up to Waging Heavy Peace and is due for publication in the Autumn.

Young recently released his latest album, A Letter Home. You can read Uncut’s review here.

Sinéad O’Connor announces new album

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Uncut

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2nd June 2014

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Sinéad O'Connor has announced details of a new studio album, I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss. The record will be released via Nettwerk Records on August 11, 2014. It is O'Connor's first studio album since How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? in 2011. Although the full tracklisting has yet to be r...

Sinéad O’Connor has announced details of a new studio album, I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss.

The record will be released via Nettwerk Records on August 11, 2014.

It is O’Connor’s first studio album since How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? in 2011.

Although the full tracklisting has yet to be revealed, a single called “Take Me To Church” will also be released on August 11.

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There

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2nd June 2014

0

Heart on sleeve missives on excellent self-produced third from National associate... Sharon Van Etten offered a few words alongside the announcement of her fourth album, Are We There: “I really hope that when someone puts my record on that they hear me.” Obvious stuff, you’d think, for a solo artist who’s had over five years to establish herself. But it’s quietly profound. The 33-year-old Jersey native moved to New York in 2005 – having escaped a long, abusive relationship in Tennessee – and got a nose-skimming bowl cut so she could avoid making eye contact. The first words on her 2010 mini-album, Epic, where she welded unsettling drones to country-indebted melodies, are, “To say the things I want to say to you would be a crime”. It took her four years to let anyone hear “Serpents”, the pummelling lead single from 2011’s Tramp, because she was unnerved by its aggression. Her place at the head of a post-Cat Power firmament isn’t a place she’s come to naturally. Are We There is Van Etten’s first self-produced album: The National’s Aaron Dessner produced the breakout Tramp, which also boasted several other indie rock luminaries. They amplified the initial attention around it, which in turn ended up denting Van Etten’s confidence again – was she liked for her talent, or her famous friends? (Scan the liner notes and names from The War On Drugs and Shearwater appear here, but they’re hardly focal points.) In fact, her instincts as a producer prove confident and pleasingly individual. The record’s newfound musical diversity comes at the expense of the big-hearted Americana she was known for. It’s still present on the likes of “Taking Chances”, where guitars bark and howl in the chorus, but it’s statelier than before. It works, though: she’s referenced Sade, but her version of shoreline Quiet Storm is warped and discomfiting. It takes conviction to pull off naked, Leonard Cohen-meets-Jeff Buckley-style piano ballads like “I Love You But I’m Lost” and “I Know”. They successfully reach further than she ever has before: her voice is breathtaking throughout the record, altering to inhabit every emotional extreme. Listening to the often brutally honest Are We There, it’s hard to believe Van Etten ever had a hard time expressing herself – or it’s testament to the way she refers to songwriting as therapy. These 11 songs concern her extant relationship, on and off for nine years, which she gets into with the precarious precision of open-heart surgery rather than a post-mortem’s safe distance. On “Your Love Is Killing Me”, her voice bleeds a rich Maria Callas red over woozy organs, tattooing drums and striking guitar, as she requests that her partner, “Burn my skin so I can’t feel you/Stab my eyes so I can’t see”. Logic would suggest calling time. But although it’s melodramatic, the overt sadness in Van Etten’s songs is seldom luxuriant. Are We There’s subtler songs point to a painfully well-honed understanding of what drives and degrades long-term love: the challenge of knowing someone well enough that routine has smothered surprise, knowing how to hurt each other exquisitely, but also – mercifully – being able to take comfort in common ground. “//You were so just… looking across the sky…//”, she tails off on the lazily romantic “Tarifa”, where Dave Hartley’s indelible saxophone part turns the chorus magnetic. “I Know” confronts the gulf between her role as half of a relationship and the detached luxury of being able to write songs about it – “the narrator with all her kisses and mimicry and tidying up,” to quote Lorrie Moore – and learning that one sometimes comes at the expense of the other. Is it really worth it? Are We There seems to ask. Van Etten sneaks the best song at the end, the burring guitars and kindling drums of “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” – an admission of her star-crossed relationship to love and songwriting (she recorded it while drunk in the studio). She happily resigns herself to the lack of resolution, but recognises the power she wields, proving her mettle as a singular songwriter not afraid to hold hot coals with bare hands. Laura Snapes Q&A Sharon Van Etten I feel voyeuristic asking you about some of this. I'm still learning how to talk about it. When were these songs written? When I started touring Tramp. Christian and I committed to each other for the first time right before the record came out. We embarked on our relationship at the beginning of the tour – the stupidest thing! I'm kidding. It was amazing. But it put us through the wringer – I was gone nine months out of the year, I toured for almost two years. I was writing during that time, so of course that's what this record's gonna be about. I had no idea, but I did, because that's what I do. It's bizarre. Does he like the record? Yeah, he was an integral part in helping me listen to mixes, helping with sequencing. He was the one who encouraged me to reach out to Stewart Lurman, just to find the studio. I thought he was out of my league, but Christian was like, "You guys are friends, he's a nice guy. He might even want to work with you.' [They had worked together on Sharon's contribution to the //Boardwalk Empire// OST.] I was like, no, but he pushed me. He came by the studio, but for the most part he respected my space. Even though the songs were personal, he could still give me his opinion. He has a really good ear. INTERVIEW: LAURA SNAPES Photo credit: Dusdin Condren

Heart on sleeve missives on excellent self-produced third from National associate…

Sharon Van Etten offered a few words alongside the announcement of her fourth album, Are We There: “I really hope that when someone puts my record on that they hear me.” Obvious stuff, you’d think, for a solo artist who’s had over five years to establish herself. But it’s quietly profound. The 33-year-old Jersey native moved to New York in 2005 – having escaped a long, abusive relationship in Tennessee – and got a nose-skimming bowl cut so she could avoid making eye contact. The first words on her 2010 mini-album, Epic, where she welded unsettling drones to country-indebted melodies, are, “To say the things I want to say to you would be a crime”. It took her four years to let anyone hear “Serpents”, the pummelling lead single from 2011’s Tramp, because she was unnerved by its aggression. Her place at the head of a post-Cat Power firmament isn’t a place she’s come to naturally.

Are We There is Van Etten’s first self-produced album: The National’s Aaron Dessner produced the breakout Tramp, which also boasted several other indie rock luminaries. They amplified the initial attention around it, which in turn ended up denting Van Etten’s confidence again – was she liked for her talent, or her famous friends? (Scan the liner notes and names from The War On Drugs and Shearwater appear here, but they’re hardly focal points.) In fact, her instincts as a producer prove confident and pleasingly individual.

The record’s newfound musical diversity comes at the expense of the big-hearted Americana she was known for. It’s still present on the likes of “Taking Chances”, where guitars bark and howl in the chorus, but it’s statelier than before. It works, though: she’s referenced Sade, but her version of shoreline Quiet Storm is warped and discomfiting. It takes conviction to pull off naked, Leonard Cohen-meets-Jeff Buckley-style piano ballads like “I Love You But I’m Lost” and “I Know”. They successfully reach further than she ever has before: her voice is breathtaking throughout the record, altering to inhabit every emotional extreme.

Listening to the often brutally honest Are We There, it’s hard to believe Van Etten ever had a hard time expressing herself – or it’s testament to the way she refers to songwriting as therapy. These 11 songs concern her extant relationship, on and off for nine years, which she gets into with the precarious precision of open-heart surgery rather than a post-mortem’s safe distance. On “Your Love Is Killing Me”, her voice bleeds a rich Maria Callas red over woozy organs, tattooing drums and striking guitar, as she requests that her partner, “Burn my skin so I can’t feel you/Stab my eyes so I can’t see”. Logic would suggest calling time. But although it’s melodramatic, the overt sadness in Van Etten’s songs is seldom luxuriant.

Are We There’s subtler songs point to a painfully well-honed understanding of what drives and degrades long-term love: the challenge of knowing someone well enough that routine has smothered surprise, knowing how to hurt each other exquisitely, but also – mercifully – being able to take comfort in common ground. “//You were so just… looking across the sky…//”, she tails off on the lazily romantic “Tarifa”, where Dave Hartley’s indelible saxophone part turns the chorus magnetic. “I Know” confronts the gulf between her role as half of a relationship and the detached luxury of being able to write songs about it – “the narrator with all her kisses and mimicry and tidying up,” to quote Lorrie Moore – and learning that one sometimes comes at the expense of the other.

Is it really worth it? Are We There seems to ask. Van Etten sneaks the best song at the end, the burring guitars and kindling drums of “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” – an admission of her star-crossed relationship to love and songwriting (she recorded it while drunk in the studio). She happily resigns herself to the lack of resolution, but recognises the power she wields, proving her mettle as a singular songwriter not afraid to hold hot coals with bare hands.

Laura Snapes

Q&A

Sharon Van Etten

I feel voyeuristic asking you about some of this.

I’m still learning how to talk about it.

When were these songs written?

When I started touring Tramp. Christian and I committed to each other for the first time right before the record came out. We embarked on our relationship at the beginning of the tour – the stupidest thing! I’m kidding. It was amazing. But it put us through the wringer – I was gone nine months out of the year, I toured for almost two years. I was writing during that time, so of course that’s what this record’s gonna be about. I had no idea, but I did, because that’s what I do. It’s bizarre.

Does he like the record?

Yeah, he was an integral part in helping me listen to mixes, helping with sequencing. He was the one who encouraged me to reach out to Stewart Lurman, just to find the studio. I thought he was out of my league, but Christian was like, “You guys are friends, he’s a nice guy. He might even want to work with you.’ [They had worked together on Sharon’s contribution to the //Boardwalk Empire// OST.] I was like, no, but he pushed me. He came by the studio, but for the most part he respected my space. Even though the songs were personal, he could still give me his opinion. He has a really good ear.

INTERVIEW: LAURA SNAPES

Photo credit: Dusdin Condren

Allen Toussaint: “I never thought of being a performer, never”

Listen to new Jeff Tweedy song, “I’ll Sing It”

Grace Jones – Nightclubbing (Deluxe edition)

Glastonbury stage times announced

Michael Stipe reveals first new material since R.E.M. split

On four albums by Mike Cooper…

Watch Jack White’s new video for “Lazaretto”

Exclusive! The Beatles unveil cinema poster for A Hard Day’s Night 50th anniversary restoration

Nick Cave announces rare solo shows

Metallica defend Glastonbury set: “The fact that everybody’s got an opinion means people still care”

Hear new Morrissey track, “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet”

Reviewed: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, “Dereconstructed”

Wreckless Eric – Le Beat Groupe Electrique / The Donovan Of Trash

“How does it feel to be pathologised?”: “The Dylanologists” reviewed

Watch Jack White perform new song, “Temporary Ground”

Wilko Johnson making ‘excellent progress’ after recent operation

King Crimson announce first live shows of 2014

The cover of Neil Young’s latest memoir revealed

Sinéad O’Connor announces new album

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There

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