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Album Reissues: The Buzzcocks – Another Music In A Different Kitchen

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Album Reissues: The Buzzcocks – Another Music In A Different Kitchen

BUZZCOCKS: Another Music In A Different Kitchen 4* Love Bites 2* A Different Kind Of Tension 3* Hard-nosed punk historians have always been very sniffy about 1978. God, no, not that frightful year when punk “went mainstream” and “became new wave”. But people who grew up in that period are more likely to remember ’78 as a boom time, a fast-changing spring-summer-autumn when seven-inch vinyl came in Opal Fruit colours, and new singles were new songs, not album tracks. The Buzzcocks could be the definitive ’78 band. A cognoscenti name-to-drop in January, they were a breakout success by March, and a ubiquitous sight in the Top 20 by November. They released five singles that year, and two albums, almost all written by singer/guitarist Pete Shelley. Together with the early Ramones records, the Buzzcocks’ output set the benchmark for two-minute punky-pop statements, exerting far-reaching influence on C86, Elastica, Green Day and countless others. The warmth of Shelley’s personality – an effeminate fusspot with a high-pitched Bolton accent – was far more radical in the context of punk than Howard Devoto’s icy, arty stick-insect. When Shelley became the frontman after Devoto’s departure in 1977, Britain as a nation was scarcely prepared for him. It was love at first sight. When he sings, “Ooh, they make me dizz-eh!” in “Fast Cars”, he sounds like Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous struggling to comprehend the New Year. Another Music In A Different Kitchen (1978), first of three Buzzcocks albums to be reissued here in 2CD editions, was a frenetic, anxious psychodrama about modern life, relationships and sex (“… all this slurping and sucking”), produced so brilliantly by Martin Rushent that nobody, including the Buzzcocks, has ever created anything remotely like it. Massive emphasis was placed on the guitars of Shelley and Steve Diggle, which razored and chopped like no guitars in history, but another important factor was the drumming of John Maher, whose super-quick hands detonated multiple explosions of snare and hi-hat. These new editions, which contain around 30 (!) extra tracks each, aren’t always riveting, but they certainly allow us to hear the Buzzcocks in several contexts. The reverberating hugeness of AMIADK can be contrasted with the band’s tinny, distorted demoes, and then with their agitated performance at Manchester’s Electric Circus in October 1977. (Shelley dodges the phlegm in “Boredom”: “I've taken this extravagant journey, so it seems to me, fuck off!”) The inclusion of contemporary Peel sessions even provides a fourth context in which to assimilate the songs. This becomes a bit of a problem with Love Bites. All punk bands except Wire faltered on their second albums, but I must say I’d never realised quite how poor Love Bites is. It sounds painfully exposed now: sluggish, thin, badly sequenced (“Real World” is a lousy opener), with Shelley in an airing cupboard somewhere, jarringly disconnected from the backing tracks. Those who disagree will welcome its reissue, which adds the singles “Love You More” and “Promises” (plus B-sides and Peel recordings) to the first disc, then fills up the second with 13 demoes and 30 minutes of previously unreleased live material from the Lesser Free Trade Hall (July 1978). Sorry to be revisionist, but even with 45 tracks (!!), Love Bites is one timeless single (“Ever Fallen In Love…”) misguidedly afforded the status of a greatest hits package. The Buzzcocks didn’t lose any commercial headway with Love Bites, but they did with the next one. A Different Kind Of Tension, notable for Steve Diggle’s increased role as a writer/singer, is loosely divided into a ‘punk’ half and an ‘experimental’ one. It marks the change from ’78 to the new, wiry, angular sounds of ’79 (which are ideal for Shelley’s lyrics about being a cipher in a consumerist world), and it makes perfect aesthetic sense if you play it next to, say, XTC’s Drums And Wires or Gang Of Four’s Entertainment!. But the Buzzcocks were judged on their singles in ’79 (“Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”, “Harmony In My Head”) and the judgment, strangely, was negative. Did two-guitar line-ups seem old-hat by then? Did too much Diggle confuse the picture? Either way, the Buzzcocks were forgotten by 1980. Disc two of ADKOT adds three non-charting singles from that year (be warned: their Martin Hannett productions have dated alarmingly), plus the inevitable demoes and Peel sessions, to form a 38-track document of the Buzzcocks’ 1979-80 fall from grace. “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” and “Harmony In My Head”, meanwhile, are now rightly acknowledged as classics. DAVID CAVANAGH UNCUT Q&A: PETE SHELLEY It must have been amazing to be a Buzzcock in 1978. “You look back and you think, My God, did we do all that? We even did a lot of touring as well. But to record an album in those days took a month. It was before Fleetwood Mac raised the bar high. It wasn’t an Olympic sport at that point.” Were there times during 1978 when you felt infallible? “Yes… matched by the times when I felt vulnerable and insecure. Two years before, we’d been doing music that we thought nobody could possibly like. It was meant to be the most uncommercial form of music ever heard. Things like ‘Orgasm Addict’, you know?” Jon Savage, in his sleevenotes, recalls that “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” was the point when the public began doubting the Buzzcocks. “I don’t know whether it precipitated things, or whether it was the barometer (laughs). It’s good to look back on that song and see it as something which stands alone, and doesn’t have any emotional turmoil or baggage. Then we put out ‘Harmony In My Head’, and somebody in Sounds wrote: ‘Shelley’s voice has hardened.’ People didn’t like it at the time, but Buzzcocks was never set out to be one person’s dream. The whole thing of punk was about empowerment, rather than the Tin Pan Alley thing of making a star out of the prettiest one.” For more album reviews, click here for the UNCUT music archive

BUZZCOCKS: Another Music In A Different Kitchen 4*

Love Bites 2*

A Different Kind Of Tension 3*

Hard-nosed punk historians have always been very sniffy about 1978. God, no, not that frightful year when punk “went mainstream” and “became new wave”. But people who grew up in that period are more likely to remember ’78 as a boom time, a fast-changing spring-summer-autumn when seven-inch vinyl came in Opal Fruit colours, and new singles were new songs, not album tracks.

The Buzzcocks could be the definitive ’78 band. A cognoscenti name-to-drop in January, they were a breakout success by March, and a ubiquitous sight in the Top 20 by November. They released five singles that year, and two albums, almost all written by singer/guitarist Pete Shelley. Together with the early Ramones records, the Buzzcocks’ output set the benchmark for two-minute punky-pop statements, exerting far-reaching influence on C86, Elastica, Green Day and countless others.

The warmth of Shelley’s personality – an effeminate fusspot with a high-pitched Bolton accent – was far more radical in the context of punk than Howard Devoto’s icy, arty stick-insect. When Shelley became the frontman after Devoto’s departure in 1977, Britain as a nation was scarcely prepared for him. It was love at first sight. When he sings, “Ooh, they make me dizz-eh!” in “Fast Cars”, he sounds like Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous struggling to comprehend the New Year.

Another Music In A Different Kitchen (1978), first of three Buzzcocks albums to be reissued here in 2CD editions, was a frenetic, anxious psychodrama about modern life, relationships and sex (“… all this slurping and sucking”), produced so brilliantly by Martin Rushent that nobody, including the Buzzcocks, has ever created anything remotely like it. Massive emphasis was placed on the guitars of Shelley and Steve Diggle, which razored and chopped like no guitars in history, but another important factor was the drumming of John Maher, whose super-quick hands detonated multiple explosions of snare and hi-hat.

These new editions, which contain around 30 (!) extra tracks each, aren’t always riveting, but they certainly allow us to hear the Buzzcocks in several contexts. The reverberating hugeness of AMIADK can be contrasted with the band’s tinny, distorted demoes, and then with their agitated performance at Manchester’s Electric Circus in October 1977. (Shelley dodges the phlegm in “Boredom”: “I’ve taken this extravagant journey, so it seems to me, fuck off!”) The inclusion of contemporary Peel sessions even provides a fourth context in which to assimilate the songs.

This becomes a bit of a problem with Love Bites. All punk bands except Wire faltered on their second albums, but I must say I’d never realised quite how poor Love Bites is. It sounds painfully exposed now: sluggish, thin, badly sequenced (“Real World” is a lousy opener), with Shelley in an airing cupboard somewhere, jarringly disconnected from the backing tracks. Those who disagree will welcome its reissue, which adds the singles “Love You More” and “Promises” (plus B-sides and Peel recordings) to the first disc, then fills up the second with 13 demoes and 30 minutes of previously unreleased live material from the Lesser Free Trade Hall (July 1978). Sorry to be revisionist, but even with 45 tracks (!!), Love Bites is one timeless single (“Ever Fallen In Love…”) misguidedly afforded the status of a greatest hits package.

The Buzzcocks didn’t lose any commercial headway with Love Bites, but they did with the next one. A Different Kind Of Tension, notable for Steve Diggle’s increased role as a writer/singer, is loosely divided into a ‘punk’ half and an ‘experimental’ one. It marks the change from ’78 to the new, wiry, angular sounds of ’79 (which are ideal for Shelley’s lyrics about being a cipher in a consumerist world), and it makes perfect aesthetic sense if you play it next to, say, XTC’s Drums And Wires or Gang Of Four’s Entertainment!. But the Buzzcocks were judged on their singles in ’79 (“Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”, “Harmony In My Head”) and the judgment, strangely, was negative. Did two-guitar line-ups seem old-hat by then? Did too much Diggle confuse the picture? Either way, the Buzzcocks were forgotten by 1980.

Disc two of ADKOT adds three non-charting singles from that year (be warned: their Martin Hannett productions have dated alarmingly), plus the inevitable demoes and Peel sessions, to form a 38-track document of the Buzzcocks’ 1979-80 fall from grace. “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” and “Harmony In My Head”, meanwhile, are now rightly acknowledged as classics.

DAVID CAVANAGH

UNCUT Q&A: PETE SHELLEY

It must have been amazing to be a Buzzcock in 1978.

“You look back and you think, My God, did we do all that? We even did a lot of touring as well. But to record an album in those days took a month. It was before Fleetwood Mac raised the bar high. It wasn’t an Olympic sport at that point.”

Were there times during 1978 when you felt infallible?

“Yes… matched by the times when I felt vulnerable and insecure. Two years before, we’d been doing music that we thought nobody could possibly like. It was meant to be the most uncommercial form of music ever heard. Things like ‘Orgasm Addict’, you know?”

Jon Savage, in his sleevenotes, recalls that “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” was the point when the public began doubting the Buzzcocks.

“I don’t know whether it precipitated things, or whether it was the barometer (laughs). It’s good to look back on that song and see it as something which stands alone, and doesn’t have any emotional turmoil or baggage. Then we put out ‘Harmony In My Head’, and somebody in Sounds wrote: ‘Shelley’s voice has hardened.’ People didn’t like it at the time, but Buzzcocks was never set out to be one person’s dream. The whole thing of punk was about empowerment, rather than the Tin Pan Alley thing of making a star out of the prettiest one.”

For more album reviews, click here for the UNCUT music archive

Brightblack Morning Light – Motion To Rejoin

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Brightblack Morning Light – Motion To Rejoin

In Legends Of The American Desert, a survey of the South-Western States, Alex Shoumatoff discovers a network of communes that have flourished in the bone-dry wilderness of New Mexico since the 1960s. Here, spiritual adventurers have found a place on the mesa where they can live off-grid and reconnect with the earth, where “ancient souls can be reborn”. Shoumatoff visits a militant lesbian commune called Arf (so named because of the proliferation of dogs; male ones must be neutered), where a woman called Riverbend tells him, “We celebrate the equinox and the solstice. Last night the hills were all dressed in rainbows.” It’s a vision generally shared, you suspect, by two relative newcomers to New Mexico, Rachael Hughes and Naybob Shineywater of Brightblack Morning Light. Their third album, Motion To Rejoin, was recorded using only solar power at a remote adobe dwelling. Here they grow their own food (“We ate 65 per cent of our food from the garden this summer,” Shineywater proudly tells us), study “sacred herbs”, go hiking a lot, and make a sticky, profound music. A music of hot earth grooves, soul chants and liminal horns, driven by the plangent vibrations of Hughes’ Fender Rhodes and Shineywater’s hypnotically reverbed whisper. He sings of crystals speaking, of the deep wisdom found in lands where teepees once stood, of canoes painted with rainbows to give them power. And plainly, if you’re allergic to hippy proselytising, Brightblack will probably drive you quickly into the embrace of Babylon. The clothes and notionally psychedelic patter might be currently fashionable, thanks to the likes of MGMT, but Hughes and Shineywater are about as far from the hipster irony of those Brooklynites as you can get, both geographically and ideologically. Before they moved to New Mexico, the pair lived in tents in a California redwood forest, where the ewok scenes in the Star Wars movies were filmed. They have banned military recruiters from their gigs, encouraged fans to bring crystals to shows, and been active in environmental groups like Friends Of The Eel River. On their last European tour, Shineywater performed with an ancient arrowhead in his mouth, to let his “own sung words and breath touch this stone before European ears could hear them.” It is not hard to make fun of this band, even if you’re broadly sympathetic to their beliefs. But the atmosphere they create in their music is so heady, so insidious, so rooted in their environment and their Utopian ideals, that the whole package becomes compelling. Given all the rhetoric, you’d probably imagine Brightblack to be an acid-folk band of some stripe, not least because Otto Hauser, from Devendra Banhart’s band, provides the supernaturally discreet drumming. But actually, the sound this Alabama-born pair formulated on their second album, Brightblack Morning Light (2006), is a soupy, reductive take on Southern soul. Uncut compared that record to Spiritualized (particularly when they co-opted Dr John’s gris gris on “Cop Shoot Cop”), and to “the Muscle Shoals crew playing beneath a giant Navajo blanket”. Those reference points still hold good this time, though Motion To Rejoin is, if anything, even slower and more righteous than its predecessor. Shineywater’s incantations are distant and dazed, given body – especially on “Oppressions Each”, a groggy call to revolution – by the gospel ardour of Regina and Ann McCrary, the former a backing singer for Dylan through the late ‘70s and ‘80s. This is funk played at the pace of a dirge, with Hughes’ spare, bluesy Fender Rhodes being tracked by a horn section whose presence is gaseous rather than emphatic. At times, as on “Summer Hoof”, it all dissolves into ambience, and the acknowledged influence of a minimalist like Terry Riley becomes apparent. But by “Past A Weatherbeaten Fencepost”, they’ve stealthily accumulated a palpable heaviness and tension. On “A Rainbow Aims”, that edge is leavened by a Strawberry Fields Mellotron, but it’s a rare influence from beyond the psychogeographical borders of the American South. Motion To Rejoin is imbued with such a rich sense of place, it eventually emerges as an analogue to another lovely record from 2008, Bon Iver’s To Emma, Forever Ago. That album was created in a snowbound cabin in Wisconsin, a wintry opposite to the baked retreat of Brightblack. But the feel of a music made in isolation, shaped by the extremes of nature, is just as striking. “Keep the spirit clean and let the high times roll,” Shineywater implores at the end of “Past A Weatherbeaten Fencepost”. After Motion To Rejoin has been on repeat for a few days, you’re very nearly tempted to head off into the wilderness and join him. UNCUT Q&A: NAYBOB SHINEYWATER Can you tell us about your background? I’m from Alabama originally, and grew up with an appreciation for being out of doors. Rachael and I have a dedication to making music in rural, wild environments, while also focusing on ecological recovery. I like it when music is a reflection of a region’s lifestyle. America has more culture than most would like to admit. In the west, the wilderness is very much alive. Wilderness is the only true freedom. It is ours to honour, respect and party with. Can you tell us how you moved to the mesa? New Mexico is the land of enchantment. Home of the Pueblo nation, the only successful North American resistance to European conquest. That means these people around here have been maintaining ceremonial dances for thousands of years. History and mainstream culture would have you believe that all the Indians are dead, along with their language and religion. However this is a lie. We should all begin looking to ancient cultures. In “Oppressions Each”, you talk of being “beat down by police”. Did that actually happen? Sure, yes. I was beaten by San Jose police on Valentine’s Day, the day of the first protest in San Francisco against the Iraq war. I sat in jail, completely innocent, and my charges of resisting arrest were dismissed on George Orwell’s birthday. How do you feel about being stereotyped as hippies? I wasn”t aware of that. Remember that LSD came from America. No culture to date has devised such a revolutionary and alternate experience. The ‘60s also granted women’s right to vote, racial equality and sexual equality. There are lessons to be learned from their mistakes, however we must, should and will embrace these mind-liberating tools in order to move forward. Not label them as bad, when the folks doing the labelling are approving bad wars, for bad oil, for bad excess. For more album reviews, click here for the UNCUT music archive

In Legends Of The American Desert, a survey of the South-Western States, Alex Shoumatoff discovers a network of communes that have flourished in the bone-dry wilderness of New Mexico since the 1960s. Here, spiritual adventurers have found a place on the mesa where they can live off-grid and reconnect with the earth, where “ancient souls can be reborn”. Shoumatoff visits a militant lesbian commune called Arf (so named because of the proliferation of dogs; male ones must be neutered), where a woman called Riverbend tells him, “We celebrate the equinox and the solstice. Last night the hills were all dressed in rainbows.”

It’s a vision generally shared, you suspect, by two relative newcomers to New Mexico, Rachael Hughes and Naybob Shineywater of Brightblack Morning Light. Their third album, Motion To Rejoin, was recorded using only solar power at a remote adobe dwelling. Here they grow their own food (“We ate 65 per cent of our food from the garden this summer,” Shineywater proudly tells us), study “sacred herbs”, go hiking a lot, and make a sticky, profound music. A music of hot earth grooves, soul chants and liminal horns, driven by the plangent vibrations of Hughes’ Fender Rhodes and Shineywater’s hypnotically reverbed whisper. He sings of crystals speaking, of the deep wisdom found in lands where teepees once stood, of canoes painted with rainbows to give them power.

And plainly, if you’re allergic to hippy proselytising, Brightblack will probably drive you quickly into the embrace of Babylon. The clothes and notionally psychedelic patter might be currently fashionable, thanks to the likes of MGMT, but Hughes and Shineywater are about as far from the hipster irony of those Brooklynites as you can get, both geographically and ideologically. Before they moved to New Mexico, the pair lived in tents in a California redwood forest, where the ewok scenes in the Star Wars movies were filmed. They have banned military recruiters from their gigs, encouraged fans to bring crystals to shows, and been active in environmental groups like Friends Of The Eel River. On their last European tour, Shineywater performed with an ancient arrowhead in his mouth, to let his “own sung words and breath touch this stone before European ears could hear them.”

It is not hard to make fun of this band, even if you’re broadly sympathetic to their beliefs. But the atmosphere they create in their music is so heady, so insidious, so rooted in their environment and their Utopian ideals, that the whole package becomes compelling.

Given all the rhetoric, you’d probably imagine Brightblack to be an acid-folk band of some stripe, not least because Otto Hauser, from Devendra Banhart’s band, provides the supernaturally discreet drumming. But actually, the sound this Alabama-born pair formulated on their second album, Brightblack Morning Light (2006), is a soupy, reductive take on Southern soul. Uncut compared that record to Spiritualized (particularly when they co-opted Dr John’s gris gris on “Cop Shoot Cop”), and to “the Muscle Shoals crew playing beneath a giant Navajo blanket”. Those reference points still hold good this time, though Motion To Rejoin is, if anything, even slower and more righteous than its predecessor. Shineywater’s incantations are distant and dazed, given body – especially on “Oppressions Each”, a groggy call to revolution – by the gospel ardour of Regina and Ann McCrary, the former a backing singer for Dylan through the late ‘70s and ‘80s.

This is funk played at the pace of a dirge, with Hughes’ spare, bluesy Fender Rhodes being tracked by a horn section whose presence is gaseous rather than emphatic. At times, as on “Summer Hoof”, it all dissolves into ambience, and the acknowledged influence of a minimalist like Terry Riley becomes apparent. But by “Past A Weatherbeaten Fencepost”, they’ve stealthily accumulated a palpable heaviness and tension.

On “A Rainbow Aims”, that edge is leavened by a Strawberry Fields Mellotron, but it’s a rare influence from beyond the psychogeographical borders of the American South. Motion To Rejoin is imbued with such a rich sense of place, it eventually emerges as an analogue to another lovely record from 2008, Bon Iver’s To Emma, Forever Ago. That album was created in a snowbound cabin in Wisconsin, a wintry opposite to the baked retreat of Brightblack. But the feel of a music made in isolation, shaped by the extremes of nature, is just as striking. “Keep the spirit clean and let the high times roll,” Shineywater implores at the end of “Past A Weatherbeaten Fencepost”. After Motion To Rejoin has been on repeat for a few days, you’re very nearly tempted to head off into the wilderness and join him.

UNCUT Q&A: NAYBOB SHINEYWATER

Can you tell us about your background?

I’m from Alabama originally, and grew up with an appreciation for being out of doors. Rachael and I have a dedication to making music in rural, wild environments, while also focusing on ecological recovery. I like it when music is a reflection of a region’s lifestyle. America has more culture than most would like to admit. In the west, the wilderness is very much alive. Wilderness is the only true freedom. It is ours to honour, respect and party with.

Can you tell us how you moved to the mesa?

New Mexico is the land of enchantment. Home of the Pueblo nation, the only successful North American resistance to European conquest. That means these people around here have been maintaining ceremonial dances for thousands of years. History and mainstream culture would have you believe that all the Indians are dead, along with their language and religion. However this is a lie. We should all begin looking to ancient cultures.

In “Oppressions Each”, you talk of being “beat down by police”. Did that actually happen?

Sure, yes. I was beaten by San Jose police on Valentine’s Day, the day of the first protest in San Francisco against the Iraq war. I sat in jail, completely innocent, and my charges of resisting arrest were dismissed on George Orwell’s birthday.

How do you feel about being stereotyped as hippies?

I wasn”t aware of that. Remember that LSD came from America. No culture to date has devised such a revolutionary and alternate experience. The ‘60s also granted women’s right to vote, racial equality and sexual equality. There are lessons to be learned from their mistakes, however we must, should and will embrace these mind-liberating tools in order to move forward. Not label them as bad, when the folks doing the labelling are approving bad wars, for bad oil, for bad excess.

For more album reviews, click here for the UNCUT music archive

Leonard Cohen: Behind The Scenes, Part 2!

Uncut
-
0
Leonard Cohen: Behind The Scenes, Part 2!

Hallelujah!: LEONARD COHEN SPECIAL In the December issue of Uncut, we celebrate Leonard Cohen’s comeback by getting the inside story from his bandmates on their extraordinary year on the road. Here at www.uncut.co.ukover the next month, we’ll be posting the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews in a new, seven-part series. Today we present musical director Javier Mas. The man Cohen reverently calls “shepherd of the strings” was born in Zaragoza, Spain and picked up the bandurria aged nine; by twelve, he’d added 12-string guitar, drums and laud to his repertoire. He learned rock and roll by paying along to Kinks records, and has worked as a composer and musician around the globe. His collaborative album with percussionist Jordi Rollo, *Tamiz*, a melange of Spanish, Asian, African and blues influences, appeared in 2002. He was musical director for major Cohen tribute concerts in Spain in 2006 and 2007. Part three of seven, will be published online Friday (November 7)! Click here to read the full transcript.

Hallelujah!: LEONARD COHEN SPECIAL

In the December issue of Uncut, we celebrate Leonard Cohen’s comeback by getting the inside story from his bandmates on their extraordinary year on the road. Here at www.uncut.co.ukover the next month, we’ll be posting the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews in a new, seven-part series.

Today we present musical director Javier Mas.

The man Cohen reverently calls “shepherd of the strings” was born in Zaragoza, Spain and picked up the bandurria aged nine; by twelve, he’d added 12-string guitar, drums and laud to his repertoire. He learned rock and roll by paying along to Kinks records, and has worked as a composer and musician around the globe. His collaborative album with percussionist Jordi Rollo, *Tamiz*, a melange of Spanish, Asian, African and blues influences, appeared in 2002. He was musical director for major Cohen tribute concerts in Spain in 2006 and 2007.

Part three of seven, will be published online Friday (November 7)!

Click here to read the full transcript.

Leonard Cohen: Behind The Scenes, Part 2!

Uncut
-
0
Leonard Cohen: Behind The Scenes, Part 2!

Hallelujah!: LEONARD COHEN SPECIAL In the December issue of Uncut, we celebrate Leonard Cohen’s comeback by getting the inside story from his bandmates on their extraordinary year on the road. Here at www.uncut.co.uk over the next month, we’ll be posting the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews in a new, seven-part series. Today we present Javier Mas. The man Cohen reverently calls “shepherd of the strings” was born in Zaragoza, Spain and picked up the bandurria aged nine; by twelve, he’d added 12-string guitar, drums and laud to his repertoire. He learned rock and roll by paying along to Kinks records, and has worked as a composer and musician around the globe. His collaborative album with percussionist Jordi Rollo, *Tamiz*, a melange of Spanish, Asian, African and blues influences, appeared in 2002. He was musical director for major Cohen tribute concerts in Spain in 2006 and 2007. Part three of seven, will be published online Friday (November 7)! *** UNCUT: How did you get involved with Leonard, and the tour? MAS: It’s because I was doing a tribute album in Spain two years ago, I was its musical director, doing arrangements for very good Spanish singers of Leonard’s songs. We made a record, a few concerts and a DVD, and we released the album here in Spain. Leonard had the album and he liked what I did very much, so he called me to tour with him. I went to LA in February and began rehearsals. What were those early rehearsals like? Was Leonard rusty? Because he was 16 years without playing concerts, he wanted to come back again. At the beginning, he had Bob Metzger, who was playing for him for many years, and Roscoe Beck. The rest of the band was new; he was trying to get a band together. And of course, he was trying to get the songs to sound like he wanted. He took a long time, two-and-a-half months, to make it good. Then we started in Canada, and it was good from the very beginning, because we had so much time for rehearsals. A very calm period, when we worked on each individual song. Was it difficult for Leonard, having not played these songs for so long? Yeah. He was a few months by himself at home, trying to remember all the songs, and playing the guitar again, and coming back to the music. But because these songs are made a long time ago, and they have a lot of history in his life, it was easy for him to come back to them. Also, it was like he’d had a holiday from them - you come back with new energy. And for him it was very good that we took so much time at the beginning, because he was getting into the songs very slowly. That was the time I found my position in the music too. So it was very good for everybody. Were you a big fan of his..? Yeah. When I was 15, 16, I was playing Spanish folk music, and then rock’n’roll, The Kinks and all these good bands from Britain. And then of course I heard Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, and of course Leonard Cohen. So I started translating his lyrics with a book, trying to understand “You Know Who I Am”, “Bird on a Wire”, “Suzanne”, I was playing all these songs on the guitar when I was 15. So for me, now, it’s a privilege to play with him. But at the same time, it’s natural, because I know the songs. I don’t have to think of them. They’re part of my knowledge, since I was young. What is Leonard like as a person? This person has been living a lot. His life has been very interesting, so he’s a man that comes now with a lot of knowledge. He’s a maestro - one of the best poets in Canada, and the world. He’s a very humble man. He takes care of everybody. It’s really a pleasure to work with him, because he always thinks about others. He knows I am different, because I’m Spanish and the rest of the band are American. He makes sure I’m alright, you know. What did you learn from being around him? I learned how to make a song sound as good as it can with the people you have around you. And I learned how to treat other people in the music business. And it works, because the concerts are sold out. So with the agents and managers, the ambience is easy. Sting and Paul Simon and everybody goes to see him. He’s a maestro to everybody. He takes his time with everybody, and listens to you about your problems, and he’ll give you advice, or maybe not - if he doesn’t have anything to tell you. But always you have the possibility of speaking with him if you need it. Do you all socialise together then - Leonard and the rest of the band? Yeah. He’s like a big brother. We’ve been together for six months now, from 10 in the morning till maybe 1 at night. We’ve become very good friends. We need each other. We’re like a team, a football team. And Leonard is part of that? Do you all go out after the show, drink some wine, talk? Yeah, yeah. The only difference between him and us is the age. He’s 73, so he needs to rest at other times. He has a different day-time schedule, when he rests more than us. Because he’s older. And we play concerts for 3 hours, sometimes more. He’s on-stage singing for 2 ½ hours. He needs a lot of rest to make it good, and remember all the lyrics. But for the rest, he’s the same. We live together. So is it physically hard for him, this tour? Is he tired after those 2 ½ hours? It’s hard for everybody. I’m not accustomed to play that long. Has he said why he wants the concerts to be so long? He really wants to play for the audience. He’s so happy to come back, for the response he finds from the audience. Sometimes, the audience stand up and clap even before we start. He wants to give them everything, so that makes for a long concert. In Athens, people were clapping and screaming for one song, so we had to play it too. When you are up there, you forget about your age! Does he have any backstage routines before he goes on-stage? No. Every day is different. Sometimes at a festival, you just change clothes and go on. What have been the best moments of the tour so far? It was great that we started in Canada. We had four nights in a great big beautiful theatre in Toronto, and the second was maybe the best concert we’ve had. Manchester. Athens was very good, they like Leonard there - “Sisters of Mercy” and “So Long, Marianne” were inspired by there. And in Lisbon [going to re-check, Spanish pronunciation] it was amazing. The people were singing the songs outside the concert, and sometimes they sang better than we played! Those were very emotional nights. I think this music is made to be played in theatres, like our four nights in Manchester, not in festivals. But people want so much to seem him - we don’t even have tickets for family. But because he keeps playing, most people will get a chance to see you in the end… Yes, because so many people want to come. It depends on Leonard, and the band, of course. If we make it good, we can carry on. If we are not happy, we have to stop it. I think we’re now going to do Europe again, and then Australia and Japan after Christmas. And then we have to play in the United States. I would like to play in Spain. So we have some time to carry on, you know. Are the set lists changing? He’s got so many beautiful songs. We have to play “Hallelujah”, we have to play “Suzanne”, we have to play “Bird on the Wire” every night. We try to change other songs. And now in Los Angeles we’ve been rehearsing “The Partisan”. We’ve been rehearsing a few new songs we’re going to try to put into the new tour. But there are so many, that’s why it’s three hours! I know you sit beside Leonard on stage. How does it feel to be almost serenaded by him every night? That’s beautiful. When I played the first rehearsals and I heard the songs, I couldn’t believe I was there. And I had to play all of the time, so it was a lot of responsibility. But at the same time it was a real pleasure. I don’t have to tell you how great he is. So to be on the stage with him is amazing. NICK HASTED

Hallelujah!: LEONARD COHEN SPECIAL

In the December issue of Uncut, we celebrate Leonard Cohen’s comeback by getting the inside story from his bandmates on their extraordinary year on the road. Here at www.uncut.co.uk over the next month, we’ll be posting the full, unedited transcripts of those interviews in a new, seven-part series.

Today we present Javier Mas.

The man Cohen reverently calls “shepherd of the strings” was born in Zaragoza, Spain and picked up the bandurria aged nine; by twelve, he’d added 12-string guitar, drums and laud to his repertoire. He learned rock and roll by paying along to Kinks records, and has worked as a composer and musician around the globe. His collaborative album with percussionist Jordi Rollo, *Tamiz*, a melange of Spanish, Asian, African and blues influences, appeared in 2002. He was musical director for major Cohen tribute concerts in Spain in 2006 and 2007.

Part three of seven, will be published online Friday (November 7)!

***

UNCUT: How did you get involved with Leonard, and the tour?

MAS: It’s because I was doing a tribute album in Spain two years ago, I was its musical director, doing arrangements for very good Spanish singers of Leonard’s songs. We made a record, a few concerts and a DVD, and we released the album here in Spain. Leonard had the album and he liked what I did very much, so he called me to tour with him. I went to LA in February and began rehearsals.

What were those early rehearsals like? Was Leonard rusty?

Because he was 16 years without playing concerts, he wanted to come back again. At the beginning, he had Bob Metzger, who was playing for him for many years, and Roscoe Beck. The rest of the band was new; he was trying to get a band together. And of course, he was trying to get the songs to sound like he wanted. He took a long time, two-and-a-half months, to make it good. Then we started in Canada, and it was good from the very beginning, because we had so much time for rehearsals. A very calm period, when we worked on each individual song.

Was it difficult for Leonard, having not played these songs for so long?

Yeah. He was a few months by himself at home, trying to remember all the songs, and playing the guitar again, and coming back to the music. But because these songs are made a long time ago, and they have a lot of history in his life, it was easy for him to come back to them. Also, it was like he’d had a holiday from them – you come back with new energy. And for him it was very good that we took so much time at the beginning, because he was getting into the songs very slowly. That was the time I found my position in the music too. So it was very good for everybody.

Were you a big fan of his..?

Yeah. When I was 15, 16, I was playing Spanish folk music, and then rock’n’roll, The Kinks and all these good bands from Britain. And then of course I heard Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, and of course Leonard Cohen. So I started translating his lyrics with a book, trying to understand “You Know Who I Am”, “Bird on a Wire”, “Suzanne”, I was playing all these songs on the guitar when I was 15. So for me, now, it’s a privilege to play with him. But at the same time, it’s natural, because I know the songs. I don’t have to think of them. They’re part of my knowledge, since I was young.

What is Leonard like as a person?

This person has been living a lot. His life has been very interesting, so he’s a man that comes now with a lot of knowledge. He’s a maestro – one of the best poets in Canada, and the world. He’s a very humble man. He takes care of everybody. It’s really a pleasure to work with him, because he always thinks about others. He knows I am different, because I’m Spanish and the rest of the band are American. He makes sure I’m alright, you know.

What did you learn from being around him?

I learned how to make a song sound as good as it can with the people you have around you. And I learned how to treat other people in the music business. And it works, because the concerts are sold out. So with the agents and managers, the ambience is easy. Sting and Paul Simon and everybody goes to see him. He’s a maestro to everybody. He takes his time with everybody, and listens to you about your problems, and he’ll give you advice, or maybe not – if he doesn’t have anything to tell you. But always you have the possibility of speaking with him if you need it.

Do you all socialise together then – Leonard and the rest of the band?

Yeah. He’s like a big brother. We’ve been together for six months now, from 10 in the morning till maybe 1 at night. We’ve become very good friends. We need each other. We’re like a team, a football team.

And Leonard is part of that? Do you all go out after the show, drink some wine, talk?

Yeah, yeah. The only difference between him and us is the age. He’s 73, so he needs to rest at other times. He has a different day-time schedule, when he rests more than us. Because he’s older. And we play concerts for 3 hours, sometimes more. He’s on-stage singing for 2 ½ hours. He needs a lot of rest to make it good, and remember all the lyrics. But for the rest, he’s the same. We live together.

So is it physically hard for him, this tour? Is he tired after those 2 ½ hours?

It’s hard for everybody. I’m not accustomed to play that long.

Has he said why he wants the concerts to be so long?

He really wants to play for the audience. He’s so happy to come back, for the response he finds from the audience. Sometimes, the audience stand up and clap even before we start. He wants to give them everything, so that makes for a long concert. In Athens, people were clapping and screaming for one song, so we had to play it too. When you are up there, you forget about your age!

Does he have any backstage routines before he goes on-stage?

No. Every day is different. Sometimes at a festival, you just change clothes and go on.

What have been the best moments of the tour so far?

It was great that we started in Canada. We had four nights in a great big beautiful theatre in Toronto, and the second was maybe the best concert we’ve had. Manchester. Athens was very good, they like Leonard there – “Sisters of Mercy” and “So Long, Marianne” were inspired by there. And in Lisbon [going to re-check, Spanish pronunciation] it was amazing. The people were singing the songs outside the concert, and sometimes they sang better than we played! Those were very emotional nights. I think this music is made to be played in theatres, like our four nights in Manchester, not in festivals. But people want so much to seem him – we don’t even have tickets for family.

But because he keeps playing, most people will get a chance to see you in the end…

Yes, because so many people want to come. It depends on Leonard, and the band, of course. If we make it good, we can carry on. If we are not happy, we have to stop it. I think we’re now going to do Europe again, and then Australia and Japan after Christmas. And then we have to play in the United States. I would like to play in Spain. So we have some time to carry on, you know.

Are the set lists changing?

He’s got so many beautiful songs. We have to play “Hallelujah”, we have to play “Suzanne”, we have to play “Bird on the Wire” every night. We try to change other songs. And now in Los Angeles we’ve been rehearsing “The Partisan”. We’ve been rehearsing a few new songs we’re going to try to put into the new tour. But there are so many, that’s why it’s three hours!

I know you sit beside Leonard on stage. How does it feel to be almost serenaded by him every night?

That’s beautiful. When I played the first rehearsals and I heard the songs, I couldn’t believe I was there. And I had to play all of the time, so it was a lot of responsibility. But at the same time it was a real pleasure. I don’t have to tell you how great he is. So to be on the stage with him is amazing.

NICK HASTED

Manic Street Preachers Inspired By Richey Edwards On New Record

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Manic Street Preachers Inspired By Richey Edwards On New Record
Manic Street Preacher have revealed that they are using missing member Richey Edwards lyrics as the basis for their forthcoming ninth studio album. The album, their first since last year's Send Away The Tigers has a working title of Journal For Plague Lovers, and will consist of lyrics that the ban...

Manic Street Preacher have revealed that they are using missing member Richey Edwards lyrics as the basis for their forthcoming ninth studio album.

The album, their first since last year’s Send Away The Tigers has a working title of Journal For Plague Lovers, and will consist of lyrics that the band have kept for 14 years, since Edwards’ dissappearence in 1995.

Speaking to sister title NME.com, MSP bassist Nicky Wire says: “We’ve had these lyrics for 14 years and we all felt compelled that this was the right time to do it. It’s a follow-up to The Holy Bible in a lot of ways.

“There’s a small amount of editing involved, because some of them are prose and they needed to be made into lyrics, but they’re all Richey’s.”

Additionally, a statement on the band’s website says: “We have been in the studio recording live – to tape – analogue – no digital hiss – no Pro Tools – no safety nets. Quite scary, daunting but invigorating.

“Musically, in many ways it feels like a follow up to The Holy Bible but there is also an acoustic side – tender, romantic, nihilism, Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky-esque. It’s a record that celebrates the genius of his words, full of love, anger, intelligence and respect. We have to make this great. Wish us luck.”

The album, which is due to be released in the Spring, is beng produced by Steve Albini whose previous credits include Nirvana, Pixies and The Stooges.

For more music and film news click here

Morrissey Collaborates With Chrissie Hynde On New Album Sessions

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Morrissey Collaborates With Chrissie Hynde On New Album Sessions
Morrissey has revealed that he has collaborated with the Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde on his new material. The forthcoming album, produced by Jerry Finn is entitled 'Years Of Refusal' and has a release date now confirmed for February 23. The first track to be released as a single from the...

Morrissey has revealed that he has collaborated with the Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde on his new material.

The forthcoming album, produced by Jerry Finn is entitled ‘Years Of Refusal’ and has a release date now confirmed for February 23.

The first track to be released as a single from the 12-track album will be “I’m Throwing My Arms Round Paris” which will have two new b-sides: “Because Of My Poor Education” and “Shame Is The Name”.

Chrissie Hynde sings on “Shame Is The Name”.

Morrissey is set to tour the US, Australia and New Zealand in the new year.

More info from his website here: www.true-to-you.net

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The Kinks Writing New Songs Together

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The Kinks Writing New Songs Together
The Kinks are looking to possibly reunite, and are working on new material together, front man Ray Davies has told BBC News. The singer says that they have started writing songs but "It depends if there's good music. We want good new music. I'd like to do it as a more collaborative thing than we us...

The Kinks are looking to possibly reunite, and are working on new material together, front man Ray Davies has told BBC News.

The singer says that they have started writing songs but “It depends if there’s good music. We want good new music. I’d like to do it as a more collaborative thing than we used to do.”

The Kinks last performed in 1996, and are one the only popular bands from the 60s whose founding members are still alive.

Davies has also spoken about making another album, collaborating on duets with other musicians such as Razorlight‘s Johnny Borrell and Snow Patrol as well

as discovering new talent to work with.

Davies said: “I don’t just want to do usual suspects. I’d love

to do something with Johnny, but I’d like to find new bands.

Unsigned even. I usually like the underdogs.”

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The 44th Uncut Playlist Of 2008

John Mulvey
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A good day for the world, then. Not sure whether this week’s Uncut playlist really reflects the global mood, though I did bring in “Attica Blues” to play this morning. A bunch of unprepossessing-looking indie promos don’t really cut it on a day like this. 1 Pavement – Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed (Domino) 2 Glasvegas – A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) (Columbia) 3 Q-Tip – The Renaissance (Island) 4 Various Artists – Titan: It’s All Pop! (Numero Group) 5 Crazy Dreams Band - Crazy Dreams Band (Holy Mountain) 6 White Lies – To Lose My Life. . . (Fiction) 7 The Doors – Live At The Matrix (Rhino) 8 Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali (Because) 9 Various Artists – In The Pines: Tar Heel Folk Songs & Fiddle Tunes; Old-Time Music Of North Carolina 1926-1936 (Old Hat) 10 Fan Death – Veronica’s Veil (Phantasy) 11 The Byrds – Live At The Ash Grove 1970 (Bootleg) 12 Larkin Grimm – Parplar (Young God) 13 The Bronx – The Bronx (Wichita) 14 Various Artists – Eccentric Soul: The Young Disciples (Numero Group) 15 Crystal Stilts – Alight Of Night (Slumberland) 16 Archie Shepp – Attica Blues (Impulse) 17 Robert Wyatt – Cuckooland (Domino)

A good day for the world, then. Not sure whether this week’s Uncut playlist really reflects the global mood, though I did bring in “Attica Blues” to play this morning. A bunch of unprepossessing-looking indie promos don’t really cut it on a day like this.

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Franz Ferdinand Announce First Single From New Album

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Franz Ferdinand Announce First Single From New Album
Franz Ferdinand have announced that the first single from their forthcoming new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand will be "Ulysses" and will be released on January 19. The band's third album is due for release the week after on January 26. Ulysses, produced by Hot Chip producer Dan Carey, was made in...

Franz Ferdinand have announced that the first single from their forthcoming new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand will be “Ulysses” and will be released on January 19.

The band’s third album is due for release the week after on January 26.

Ulysses, produced by Hot Chip producer Dan Carey, was made in Franz’s hometown Glasgow as well as London.

The band have additionally today (November 4) launched an official remix competition through Beatport.com. Fans can buy parts of the song to build their own remixes, and the winning entries will be released digitally at the same time as the official single in January.

Franz Ferdinand are about to play some live shows in Europe, and are expected to announce UK dates in the near future.

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Sigur Ros Reissue Album With Two New Films As Bonus

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Sigur Ros Reissue Album With Two New Films As Bonus
Sigur Rós are to release two new films as part of a deluxe reissue of their latest studio album ‘Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust’ on November 17. The first is a "transcendent piece of cinema" filmed in Iceland, America, Mexico and the UK, and is set to the band's music. The second fil...

Sigur Rós are to release two new films as part of a deluxe reissue of their latest studio album ‘Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust’ on November 17.

The first is a “transcendent piece of cinema” filmed in Iceland, America, Mexico and the UK, and is set to the band’s music. The second film is a documentary, recorded live at Abbey Road Studios with Sigur Ros performing their piece ‘Ára bátur’ accompanied by a 69-piece orchestra and 20-piece choir.

The films, both directed by Nick Abrahams will also screen at London’s Covent Garden on November 10.

The special deluxe, numbered, editions of the album, as well as including the films and the now banned video for single “Gobbledigook” will also come with a 196-page cloth bound book of photographs shot by Eva Vermandel.

For more information about the films, the deluxe album edition

and more, see: www.sigurros.com

You can also see Sigur Ros live at the following venues this month:

Wolverhampton Civic (November 4)

Blackpool Empress Ballroom (5)

Glasgow Academy (6)

Bristol Colston Hall (7)

Bournemouth Solent Hall (8)

London, Alexandra Palace (20, 21)

For more music and film news click here

Pic credit: Andy Willsher

Watch Two Previously Unseen Nina Simone Videos Here

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Watch Two Previously Unseen Nina Simone Videos Here

A new 51 track box set 'To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story' has just been released, and to coincide, two previously unseen videos have been made available to view. The two videos, for "I wish I knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" and Precious Lord" can be seen below. Delving into archives, the new Simone box set also features eight previously unreleased tracks from across the legendary singer's RCA and Colpix recordings across 1963-73. Unearthed gems include covers of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and Richie Haven's “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed”, both recorded live at New York’s Philharmonic Hall in October 1969. Uncut currently has two copies of the boxset to give away, see the side panel for the link to the competition. Nina Simone - I wish I knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (previously unreleased video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSUlgOzARy4 Nina Simone - Precious Lord (previously unreleased video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb2751fNvHA For more music and film news click here

A new 51 track box set ‘To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story’ has just been released, and to coincide, two previously unseen videos have been made available to view.

The two videos, for “I wish I knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” and Precious Lord” can be seen below.

Delving into archives, the new Simone box set also features eight previously unreleased tracks from across the legendary singer’s RCA and Colpix recordings across 1963-73. Unearthed gems include covers of Leonard Cohen‘s “Suzanne” and Richie Haven‘s “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed”, both recorded live at New York’s Philharmonic Hall in October 1969.

Uncut currently has two copies of the boxset to give away, see the side panel for the link to the competition.

Nina Simone – I wish I knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (previously unreleased video):

Nina Simone – Precious Lord (previously unreleased video):

For more music and film news click here

The Cure To Headline NME Awards Big Gig

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The Cure To Headline NME Awards Big Gig
The Cure are to headline the Shockwaves NME Awards Big Gig taking place in London on February 26. The band will be celebrating picking up the Godlike Genius award at the NME Awards the previous night at London's Brixton Academy. The Big Gig, to be held for the second time at London's O2 Arena, saw...

The Cure are to headline the Shockwaves NME Awards Big Gig taking place in London on February 26.

The band will be celebrating picking up the Godlike Genius award at the NME Awards the previous night at London’s Brixton Academy.

The Big Gig, to be held for the second time at London’s O2 Arena, saw 2008 Godlike Genius winners Manic Street Preachers headline earlier this year with Kaiser Chiefs, Klaxons, Bloc Party, The Cribs and Johnny Marr also on the bill.

The Cure are set to play a 30 year spanning set, and frontman Robert Smith has said: “I think it is a recognition of all The Cure has done over the years, so it would be pretty dumb to accept the award with a, ‘hey! Have you heard our new stuff?’. So we won’t be doing that! We are not going to turn up and start being weird!

“We’ll play some new stuff, some old stuff and some stuff from in between, trying to distil 30 years into the set!”

Tickets for the Big Gig go on sale on Wednesday November 5 at 9am from nme.com

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The Slits Prepare To Play First Gigs With Original Line Up In 30 Years

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The Slits Prepare To Play First Gigs With Original Line Up In 30 Years

The Slits are set to play their first shows with the original line-up in 30 years, starting this month. The band, who originally split in 1981, will play two shows at the forthcoming Ladyfest in Manchester on November 9, as well as a headline show at London's Astoria on December 3. Frontwoman Ari Up has previously reunited with bassist Tessa Pollitt in 2006, but guitarist Viv Albertine has now joined them again, after all contributed to a forthcoming book to celebrate 30 years since the release of Cut. The book, 'Typical Girls?' (working title) by Zoe Street Howe is due to be published by Omnibus Press next Summer. Albertine explains her re-interest in playing with the group saying: "Zoe is why I became interested in the Slits again - to see someone intelligent and cool like that being so into what we did had a major effect on me. And, the book, thank God, it's about time the Slits got the respect they deserve!" For more music and film news click here

The Slits are set to play their first shows with the original line-up in 30 years, starting this month.

The band, who originally split in 1981, will play two shows at the forthcoming Ladyfest in Manchester on November 9, as well as a headline show at London’s Astoria on December 3.

Frontwoman Ari Up has previously reunited with bassist Tessa Pollitt in 2006, but guitarist Viv Albertine has now joined them again, after all contributed to a forthcoming book to celebrate 30 years since the release of Cut.

The book, ‘Typical Girls?’ (working title) by Zoe Street Howe is due to be published by Omnibus Press next Summer.

Albertine explains her re-interest in playing with the group saying: “Zoe is why I became interested in the Slits again – to see someone intelligent and cool like that being so into what we did had a major effect on me.

And, the book, thank God, it’s about time the Slits got the respect they deserve!”

For more music and film news click here

Amadou & Mariam: “Welcome To Mali”

John Mulvey
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A slightly tenuous connection, but it’s odd to think that, when the record I blogged about yesterday, “Brighten The Corners”, first came out, Damon Albarn was at the height of his Pavement phase. I remember going to see Pavement in Oxford on that tour (“Westie Can Drum”, “The Killing Moon”. . .) and Albarn was there with Justine Frischmann, looking conspicuously inconspicuous in a baseball cap pulled down low. Nowadays, of course, Albarn’s public enthusiasms are directed much more towards the likes of Amadou & Mariam, the blind Malian couple who have become, I suspect, one of African music’s most lucrative exports in the past few years. If 2005’s “Dimanche A Bamako” was a kind of slick, syncopated hybrid of Malian music, R&B and Francophone global pop – as represented by producer Manu Chao (whose own records I can’t deal with, incidentally; all a bit Eurovision Mescaleros for me) – then “Welcome To Mali” introduces the Albarn-endorsed world of Africa Express to the party, too. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean that Amadou & Mariam have invited all those dubious UK indie sloggers that seem to crop up on Africa Express bills like Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, Reverend And The Makers, Hard-Fi, and so on – though perhaps we should give these bands credit for having the guts to jam with people like Toumani Diabaté. Maybe some more illustrious Western names are too scared, one way or the other? It does mean, though, that Damon Albarn himself turns up on this hectic, long, generally euphoric record. For the most part, it’s pretty exhilarating stuff, with all the disparate sounds and influences meticulously crafted into a coherent, if frantic, musical expression of joy. On “Batoman” and “Sebeke” in particular, it feels like producers Marc-Antoine Moreau and Lauren Jais are throwing multiple digitally-rendered kitchen sinks into the mix, but the spirit of Amadou and Mariam just about emerges intact – even, on “Sebeke”, when it comes filtered through a vocoder. The whole album is spattered with great moments of fusion: the seething R&B Hammond runs in “Compagnon De La Vie”; the euphoric blues-rock solo that Amadou unleashes in the midst of the particularly lively “Masiteladi” (this one helmed by Vanessa Paradis’ mentor, M); the mighty face-off between Amadou and Toumani Diabaté’s kora on “Djuru”. Only one contributor really grates: the Somali-Canadian rapper K’Naan, an Africa Express regular whose own records and gigs have left me more irritated than impressed, contributes some lame rhymes to “Africa”. It is Albarn, predictably, whose contribution will get most publicity. “Sabali” opens the album, plants Mariam’s voice into a chintzy synthscape very close in tone to his Olympics theme, and doesn’t feature Amadou at all. Audacious and pretty, perhaps, but the muso in me can’t help thinking that it’s a bit of waste of such a fantastic guitarist. And that thought, to be honest, recurs intermittently throughout the rest of the record. There’s so much going on here, so much technoflash and delirium, that those serpentine, unravelling riffs aren’t anywhere near as prominent as I’d like. I was writing a review of this record last night, and I was trying to pithily express how there seems to have been a paradigm shift in the tastes of African music fans of late: that where they once fetishised purity and authenticity, now fusion is seen as something desirable, rather than a sell-out. “Welcome To Mali” and Africa Express are clearly manifestations of this, and clearly good things in general; as I’ve said before here many times, I always think the pursuit of authenticity, realism or whatever in music is a bit bogus, or at least a waste of time. But for all the pleasures of “Welcome To Mali”, it strikes me that its hi-tech polish occasionally smothers the character and charm of Amadou & Mariam themselves. Then this morning I realised that, by worrying about this, I wasn’t actually bemoaning a lack of authenticity or whatever in their music. It was simply a question of production techniques – after all, Amadou & Mariam were playing a distinct fusion of Malian forms and Western R&B long before they were picked up by Western music biz grandees. “Welcome To Mali” is a shiny pop record, very now, very likely to date, very good fun. But maybe it’s my rockist, indie-boy aesthetics that lead me to prefer the Malian likes of Tinariwen; another fusion between local Saharan music and rock, of course, but one which is less gilded, more psychedelic perhaps, which lets the music breathe a little more. There’s plenty on “Welcome To Mali” which is dazzling, but I wonder how Amadou & Mariam would sound if they’d fallen in with, say, the Robert Plant crowd rather than the Manu Chao scene in the first place? And while we’re on this subject, can I briefly recommend a record by Terakaft called “Akh Issudar”? It’s a Tinariwen spin-off, very much in the same vein, and it’s terrific.

A slightly tenuous connection, but it’s odd to think that, when the record I blogged about yesterday, “Brighten The Corners”, first came out, Damon Albarn was at the height of his Pavement phase. I remember going to see Pavement in Oxford on that tour (“Westie Can Drum”, “The Killing Moon”. . .) and Albarn was there with Justine Frischmann, looking conspicuously inconspicuous in a baseball cap pulled down low.

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Bob Dylan’s Drawn Blank Series Returns To UK

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Bob Dylan’s Drawn Blank Series Returns To UK
Bob Dylan's exhibition of drawings and sketches, The Drawn Blank Series is to return to the UK this month. After initially showing at the Halcyon Gallery in June this year, the artwork is to go on show at The Lightbox, a public gallery in Woking on November 25. As reported previously on www.uncut....

Bob Dylan‘s exhibition of drawings and sketches, The Drawn Blank Series is to return to the UK this month.

After initially showing at the Halcyon Gallery in June this year, the artwork is to go on show at The Lightbox, a public gallery in Woking on November 25.

As reported previously on www.uncut.co.uk the ‘The Drawn Blank Series’ features new intense colour variations based on his drawings and sketches produced on tour between 1989 and 1992 – originally published in a Random House published book ‘Drawn Blank.’

The Drawn Blank exhibition is set to run until January 11, 2009.

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Tracy Chapman Back Catalogue Gets Digital Release

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Tracy Chapman Back Catalogue Gets Digital Release
Tracy Chapman's entire back catalogue has been released digitally for the first time this week (November 3). The seven albums starting with the self titled debut from 1988, include 89's Crossroads, 92's Matters of the Heart and 2000's Telling Stories. The albums are being released digitally to coi...

Tracy Chapman‘s entire back catalogue has been released digitally for the first time this week (November 3).

The seven albums starting with the self titled debut from 1988, include 89’s Crossroads, 92’s Matters of the Heart and 2000’s Telling Stories.

The albums are being released digitally to coincide with her eighth studio album Our Bright Future, which is due for release on November 10.

Chapman is also about to head to the UK for four live shows, her first solo tour in ten years, including London’s Hammersmith Apollo on December 15 and 16.

The digital reissues are:

Tracy Chapman (1988)

Crossroads (1989)

Matters Of The Heart (1992),

New Beginning (1995)

Telling Stories (2000)

Let It Rain (2002)

Where You Live (2005)

More info about the albums is available from her official website, here: www.tracychapman.com

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Wayne Coyne To Introduce Xmas Film In London

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Wayne Coyne To Introduce Xmas Film In London

The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne is to give screen talk's prior to three screenings of the band's first feature film Christmas On Mars at London's Barbican next month. Coyne will discuss the making of the film, which took seven years to produce, on December 12, 13 and 14. The sci-fi fantasy is also dicussed by Coyne in the latest issue of Uncut magazine (December 2008). More info and to book tickets, see: www.barbican.org.uk/film or phone: 0845 120 7527 For more music and film news click here

The Flaming Lips‘ Wayne Coyne is to give screen talk’s prior to three screenings of the band’s first feature film Christmas On Mars at London’s Barbican next month.

Coyne will discuss the making of the film, which took seven years to produce, on December 12, 13 and 14.

The sci-fi fantasy is also dicussed by Coyne in the latest issue of Uncut magazine (December 2008).

More info and to book tickets, see: www.barbican.org.uk/film or phone: 0845 120 7527

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Uncut Music Award: The Reader’s Choice

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Uncut Music Award: The Reader’s Choice

The inaugural Uncut Music Award is due to be presented later this week, but ahead of that , we counted up your votes to see what you think the most rewarding album released between August 2007 and September 2008 was. From the shortlist of eight albums, www.uncut.co.uk readers chose Drive By Truckers Brighter Than Creation's Dark album as their pick of the bunch, by quite some way. In second place was The Felice Brothers self-titled album, and in third, Bon Iver with For Emma, Forever Ago. Joint fourth place is shared by Fleet Foxes self titled debut and The Raconteurs Consolers of The Lonely. Stay tuned to find out who our illustrious judges – Peter Hook, Linda Thompson, Edwyn Collins, Bob Harris, Mark Radcliffe, Danny Kelly, Vince Power, Tony Wadsworth, Alison Howe and Allan Jones have chosen as the first ever winners of the Uncut Music Award. The full shortlist, in alphabetical order, is: 1. BON IVER – For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD) 2. DRIVE BY TRUCKERS – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West) 3. ELBOW – The Seldom-Seen Kid (Fiction) 4. THE FELICE BROTHERS - The Felice Brothers (Loose) 5. FLEET FOXES – Fleet Foxes (Bella Union) 6. THE RACONTEURS – Consolers Of The Lonely (XL) 7. RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows (XL) 8. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Vampire Weekend (XL) See the dedicated Uncut Music Award blog here, for more information about the prize. For more music and film news click here

The inaugural Uncut Music Award is due to be presented later this week, but ahead of that , we counted up your votes to see what you think the most rewarding album released between August 2007 and September 2008 was.

From the shortlist of eight albums, www.uncut.co.uk readers chose Drive By Truckers Brighter Than Creation’s Dark album as their pick of the bunch, by quite some way.

In second place was The Felice Brothers self-titled album, and in third, Bon Iver with For Emma, Forever Ago.

Joint fourth place is shared by Fleet Foxes self titled debut and The Raconteurs Consolers of The Lonely.

Stay tuned to find out who our illustrious judges – Peter Hook, Linda Thompson, Edwyn Collins, Bob Harris, Mark Radcliffe, Danny Kelly, Vince Power, Tony Wadsworth, Alison Howe and Allan Jones have chosen as the first ever winners of the Uncut Music Award.

The full shortlist, in alphabetical order, is:

1. BON IVER – For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD)

2. DRIVE BY TRUCKERS – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West)

3. ELBOW – The Seldom-Seen Kid (Fiction)

4. THE FELICE BROTHERS – The Felice Brothers (Loose)

5. FLEET FOXES – Fleet Foxes (Bella Union)

6. THE RACONTEURS – Consolers Of The Lonely (XL)

7. RADIOHEAD – In Rainbows (XL)

8. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Vampire Weekend (XL)

See the dedicated Uncut Music Award blog here, for more information about the prize.

For more music and film news click here

Elbow Announce UK Tour

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Elbow Announce UK Tour
Elbow have announced a UK tour to start next February. Guy Garvey and co., who picked up a Mercury Prize for their fourth album 'The Seldom Seen Kid' this year, will tour the country prior to their biggest UK show to date, at Wembley Arena on March 14. Tickets for all shows go onsale on November 4...

Elbow have announced a UK tour to start next February.

Guy Garvey and co., who picked up a Mercury Prize for their fourth album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ this year, will tour the country prior to their biggest UK show to date, at Wembley Arena on March 14.

Tickets for all shows go onsale on November 4 at 9am, except for Wembley, which are already available.

See Elbow play live at the following venues in early 2009:

Brighton Dome (February 26)

Southend Cliffs Pavilion (March 1)

Bournemouth Solent Hall (2)

Sheffield Academy (3)

Newcastle Academy (5)

Edinburgh Corn Exchange (6)

Blackpool Empress Ballroom (7)

Llandudno Arena (9)

Bristol Colston Hall (10)

Plymouth Pavilions (11)

Newport Centre (12)

London Wembley Arena (14)

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Pic credit: Andy Willsher

Pavement: “Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed”

John Mulvey
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When promos of the latest deluxe Pavement reissue – “Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed”, no less – turned up last week, it struck me that perhaps, in 12 months’ time, we might just be talking about a Pavement comeback being one of the key reunions of 2009. For in spite of vague (presumably) unresolved animosities, ongoing careers (Malkmus’ “Real Emotional Trash” remains one of my 2008 favourites; doesn’t Bob Nastanovich do something involving racehorses full-time now in Louisville?) and so on, there feels like something inevitable about them getting back together sooner or later. Not least, I suppose, because various ex-members of the band have alluded to it happening, perhaps with the sort of droll, apparently powerless phlegmatism that was always one of Pavement’s key assets. They’re still one of my favourite bands, though one I only interviewed once: a farcical night in Leeds that involved me clumsily annoying a raft of fanzine writers, Sonic Youth and, eventually, quite a few of Pavement – apart from Gary Young who, on his last tour with the band I think, was doing a good job of annoying his bandmates himself. If I remember right, that day he’d put a dead rabbit in Malkmus’ luggage, and spent most of the evening handing tiddlywinks out to audience members in the foyer of the venue. I digress. Anyway, listening to “Brighten The Corners”, I’m reminded just how much I love Pavement, not least because this one has always been perhaps my least-favourite of their albums, and it still sounds terrific. In contrast with some of the chaotic things that came before it, and the intensively divisive Malkmus/Godrich business surrounding “Terror Twilight” that followed, “Brighten The Corners” sounds like the calmest album in Pavement’s canon. It’s here, maybe, that they started tentatively grappling with the idea of a sort of maturity, where the concepts of lo-fi or whatever that loitered around them became less pressing. Great songs, then – “We Are Underused”! “Stereo”!, “Starlings Of The Slipstream”!. The first stirrings of Malkmus’ nascent guitar hero instincts – check out the grand coda to “Type Slowly”, which might be my favourite thing here. Endless quotable lines, beginning of course with all that stuff about Geddy Lee in “Stereo”. And a more integrated Scott Kannberg, who still managed to have maybe one of his very best songs – “Winner Of The” – left off the actual album. “Winner Of The” is, of course, included here as one of 30-odd extra tracks; nothing less than we’ve come to expect from these hefty reissues of the Pavement catalogue that roll out once every couple of years. Picking a way through it all, there’s an argument that this might actually be one of the richest Pavement periods, given the quality of all these b-sides and offcuts. On Disc One, for instance, there’s a great, tentative, generally instrumental version of “The Hexx” that flourishes without the Godrich wooshing it received on “Terror Twilight”. There are more great offcuts (“Harness Your Hopes” and “Roll With The Wind”) that originally limped out a few years too late as b-sides to “Spit On A Stranger”. And there’s one of my favourite Pavement songs of all, “Westie Can Drum”, a seemingly jokey prelude to the sniping which would eat away at the band during the “Terror Twilight” sessions. Disc Two begins with a racey version of “Type Slowly”, “Slowly Typed”, and wanders through a bunch of revealing and fun cover versions (of which “The Killing Moon” is the most familiar, but there’s also The Fall’s “The Classical”, and a punt at Faust’s “It’s A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl” which I’ve never come across before). There’s also an unreleased song called “Neil Hegarty Meets Jon Spencer In A Non-Alcoholic Bar”, the title of which has bewitched me so completely that, every time I’ved played the album thus far, I’ve failed to notice what it’s actually like. A lot to take in here; I’ll play it all again, and get back to you. . .

When promos of the latest deluxe Pavement reissue – “Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed”, no less – turned up last week, it struck me that perhaps, in 12 months’ time, we might just be talking about a Pavement comeback being one of the key reunions of 2009.

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