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Latitude — Paul Merton! Capes! Aliens!

Michael Bonner
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So, there's Paul Merton -- no less -- smoking a cigarette and eating a baked potato. This, gentle reader, is the first thing I see at this year's Latitude -- and, surely, as celeb/food/fag interfaces go this might well take some beating. Still, walking out into the site, I head straight to the Radio 4 Arena. If I can confess something to you, I'll be missing this Sunday's Archers onmibus, so I'm planning to spend as much time as possible loitering round the Radio 4 tent, particularly as they're recording Just A Minute live from here tomorrow. Hence, of course, the presence of Paul Merton. Anyway, strolling off in the direction of the Lake Stage, I catch a bit of Bearsuit, from (relatively) nearby Norwich -- bringing their inflatable balloons and blue capes to the pastoral bosom of Suffolk. I also catch a snatch of The Aliens. I was a huge fan of the Beta Band, who featured The Aliens' Gordon Anderson in their original line-up -- and if the Beta Band's debut "Dry The Rain" was the greatest song Primal Scream never recorded, then there's something satisfying about hearing Anderson's Aliens close their set with a suitably psychedelic cover of the Scream's "Higher Than The Sun". Mixed into The Beatles' "Helter Skelter". And the Close Encounters theme. A good start, I reckon, to Latitude 08. Anyway, gotta motor -- there's Black Kids and Howling Bells to come, and if I'm very lucky I might be able to squeeze in a smidgeon of Julian Cope.

So, there’s Paul Merton — no less — smoking a cigarette and eating a baked potato. This, gentle reader, is the first thing I see at this year’s Latitude — and, surely, as celeb/food/fag interfaces go this might well take some beating.

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First Bands Break The Silence At Latitude

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First Bands Break The Silence At Latitude

The first day of music at Latitude Festival got started this afternoon, with a host of new bands warming up the crowd for tonight's headline performances. Leeds band Grammatics were the first to play the main Obelisk stage which will see bands like British Sea Power, Martha Wainwright and Franz Ferdinand headlining this evening. Check the Latitude blog for the first reports on these artists. Heloise & The Saviour, Gravenhurst and The Bookerhouse Blues were the first three acts in the Uncut arena, before Micah P Hinson took to the stage. At the Sunrise Arena, Broken Records and Slow Club packed out the tent, with many fans sitting in the surrounding woodlands to hear the sets. Edinburgh band, Broken Records, had a full stage with their seven members playing cello, mandolin, trumpet, glockenspiel and violin as well as guitars and drums. The band, who have been tipped as the next Arcade Fire, played a set heavily influenced by traditional folk music with songs, "Within Reason", "Wolves Hand" and "Slow Praise". Next up Slow Club's army of dedicated fans had filled up the front of stage before Broken Records had cleared their equipment. The duo, made up of Charles (guitar, vocals) and Rebecca (drums, vocals) opened with "If I'm not Married By The Time I'm 22" before playing "Me & You". Rebecca, who uses a wooden chair and glass bottles as part of her kit, agreed to wed an audience member who shouted out "Marry me?" between songs. "Ok. No seriously, yes!" she said before Charles interrupted her with "No seriously don't! You'll live to regret it... I did!" The pair then launched into the crowd favourite "Trophy Room", about which she added: "The last time I played this I just gave up. But it's only two and a half minutes, so can you all just hold your breath or something?". The band will release their debut EP Let’s Fall Back In Love on August 25. The setlist: If we're both not married by 22 Me & You I was Unconscious It Was A Dream Because We're Dead Trophy Room Apples And Pears Slow Club Summer Shakedown Stay up to date with all that's occurring at this year's Latitude Festival - with www.uncut.co.uk's round-the-clock coverage throughout the next three days. Stay tuned to UNCUT's dedicated LATITUDE Blog by clicking here or through our homepage www.uncut.co.uk.

The first day of music at Latitude Festival got started this afternoon, with a host of new bands warming up the crowd for tonight’s headline performances.

Leeds band Grammatics were the first to play the main Obelisk stage which will see bands like British Sea Power, Martha Wainwright and Franz Ferdinand headlining this evening. Check the Latitude blog for the first reports on these artists.

Heloise & The Saviour, Gravenhurst and The Bookerhouse Blues were the first three acts in the Uncut arena, before Micah P Hinson took to the stage.

At the Sunrise Arena, Broken Records and Slow Club packed out the tent, with many fans sitting in the surrounding woodlands to hear the sets.

Edinburgh band, Broken Records, had a full stage with their seven members playing cello, mandolin, trumpet, glockenspiel and violin as well as guitars and drums. The band, who have been tipped as the next Arcade Fire, played a set heavily influenced by traditional folk music with songs, “Within Reason”, “Wolves Hand” and “Slow Praise”.

Next up Slow Club’s army of dedicated fans had filled up the front of stage before Broken Records had cleared their equipment. The duo, made up of Charles (guitar, vocals) and Rebecca (drums, vocals) opened with “If I’m not Married By The Time I’m 22” before playing “Me & You”.

Rebecca, who uses a wooden chair and glass bottles as part of her kit, agreed to wed an audience member who shouted out “Marry me?” between songs.

“Ok. No seriously, yes!” she said before Charles interrupted her with “No seriously don’t! You’ll live to regret it… I did!”

The pair then launched into the crowd favourite “Trophy Room”, about which she added:

“The last time I played this I just gave up. But it’s only two and a half minutes, so can you all just hold your breath or something?”.

The band will release their debut EP Let’s Fall Back In Love on August 25.

The setlist:

If we’re both not married by 22

Me & You

I was Unconscious It Was A Dream

Because We’re Dead

Trophy Room

Apples And Pears

Slow Club Summer Shakedown

Stay up to date with all that’s occurring at this year’s Latitude Festival – with www.uncut.co.uk‘s round-the-clock coverage throughout the next three days.

Stay tuned to UNCUT’s dedicated LATITUDE Blog by clicking here or through our homepage www.uncut.co.uk.

Latitude Day 1: Michael Nyman gets the festival off to a baroque swing

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Afternoon all. You join us at Latitude in the company of the entire Alternative Cabaret scene, a giant. flying chunk of the Edinburgh Fringe, some frighteningly coloured sheep and, lest we forget, some excellent bands. Three exciting bits of news: it's not quite raining; I'm clear this year that we're in Suffolk, not Norfolk: and Michael Nyman is playing while I write at the back of the Music And Film Arena. What better way to start the UK's most civilized festival than by watching one of the country's foremost film composers tranquilly serenade Latitude's early arrivals at the piano? These days he seems to have left behind the zippy post-modern baroque of his Peter Greenaway scores snd is playing solo (without the exuberant band I last saw him with, 15-odd years ago). Instead it's all very lush and romantic: he plays a decent chunk of "The Piano" score, and accompanies a screening of a Jean Vigo short about Nice. He also flubs a few notes, which is quite endearing and a nice contrast to his stern professorial demeanour. All rather lovely, and it seems to be over. Now for a veggieburger...

Afternoon all. You join us at Latitude in the company of the entire Alternative Cabaret scene, a giant. flying chunk of the Edinburgh Fringe, some frighteningly coloured sheep and, lest we forget, some excellent bands.

Three exciting bits of news: it’s not quite raining; I’m clear this year that we’re in Suffolk, not Norfolk: and Michael Nyman is playing while I write at the back of the Music And Film Arena.

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The Dark Knight – The Uncut Review!

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The Dark Knight – The Uncut Review!
DIRECTED BY:Christopher Nolan STARRING: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart *** One of the more satisfying subtexts British director Christopher Nolan teases out of The Dark Knight is that it takes a freak to catch a freak. And what a freak. You might think that the idea of a man donning ...

DIRECTED BY:Christopher Nolan

STARRING: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

***

One of the more satisfying subtexts British director Christopher Nolan teases out of The Dark Knight is that it takes a freak to catch a freak. And what a freak. You might think that the idea of a man donning a giant bat costume made of Kevlar to fight crime is, in itself, weird enough. But wait until you see The Joker, dressed in his strange, mottled clothes; a stained coral green waistcoat and purple shirt. There’s the perpetual smile, a swollen red streak like an open wound stretching out from the corners of his mouth, made more prominent by the ghastly white make-up that looks like it’s melted into his skin. His eyes are ugly black circles, his straggly hair a rank, piss-stained yellow. This, you might reasonably assume, is some distance from the camp Vaudeville ham of Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie.

In fact, plenty has already been made of Heath Ledger’s fearless interpretation of The Joker. Some have even suggested the role partly contributed to his accidental death, on January 22 this year, from an overdose of prescription drugs. A long-term insomniac, Ledger seems to have found it especially hard to switch off after playing the part. He’d certainly taken the role extraordinarily seriously, reportedly spending a month holed up in a London hotel on his own, practising voices, posture and nailing the character’s psychology, even writing a diary “as” The Joker. Whatever the long-term repercussions, this assiduous preparation is certainly palpable in Ledger’s performance. Ledger’s Joker is a brilliant study of a sociopath; a feral, amoral lunatic motivated by chaos, the kind of figure who blows up hospitals, impales a man’s head on a pencil, and “just wants to watch the world burn”.

With Batman Begins, Nolan demonstrated that one of his great strengths as a filmmaker is the way he explores the psychological landscape of his characters. He’s clearly got a lot to work with here, and along with his co-writer brother, Jonathan, gets stuck in scrutinising meaty ideas of identity, duality and obsession that bind his cast of freaks together. Fairly radical subject matter, you might think, for a comic book movie with a budget hovering around $180 million. As The Joker tells the Batman: “I don’t want to kill you. What would I do without you? You complete me.”

Nolan’s suggestion that the Batman and The Joker exist as oppositional but complementary forces provides one of several striking riffs on Michael Mann’s 1995 crime epic, Heat. Particularly, the dynamic between the Batman and The Joker that reflects the relationship between Pacino’s cop, Vincent Hanna, and De Niro’s criminal, Neil McCauley – there’s even a sit-down meet between the Batman and The Joker in a Gotham jail that echoes Heat’s legendary coffee-shop face-off between Hanna and McCauley.

Watching the way Nolan shoots Gotham (or its stunt double, Chicago), and you’re forcibly reminded of the way Mann filmed LA in Heat. There’s a similar fetishising of ultra-modern concrete and glass cityscapes, the same blue-grey palette. Meanwhile, the casting of William Fichtner, as a corrupt bank official in the film’s astonishing opening heist sequence, is the most playful nod to Mann’s film, in which Fichtner also appeared.

That said, The Dark Knight isn’t just about the Batman and The Joker. While much the opening two-thirds of the film focuses on The Joker’s explosive destructiveness, Nolan runs it in tandem with the rise of Gotham’s newest District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Eckhart), “a decent man in an undecent time”, who’s prepared to risk his life taking a stand against Gotham’s numerous organised crime families.

Dent, it’s no great secret, becomes Two-Face in the latter part of the film; a man with his own peculiar take on duality and obsession, who decides the fate of his victims on the toss of a coin. The arc of Dent’s story – from crusading public official to murderous, deformed vigilante – provides The Dark Knight with arguably its most conventionally satisfying narrative trajectory, played admirably straight by Eckhart. It’s a smart counterpoint, too, to The Joker’s own force-of-nature insanity that arrives fully formed at the start of the film. As you might expect, though, with the introduction of a new villain so late in the game, the pacing of The Dark Knight shifts awkwardly around the 90-minute mark.

It seems a perennial problem with the comic book movie genre, that more is frequently perceived as better. And back to those Mann comparisons, it seems that Nolan also shares Mann’s dislike for cutting excess material. So, a lengthy digressionary sequence set in Hong Kong could have been lost, as could a set-piece involving two boats each with a bomb on board. That’s approximately 40 minutes of porridge that could have been ditched without too many tears being shed.

But, perhaps inevitably, you’re left with the enduring image of Ledger, made up like the star turn in a carnival from Hell. “Criminals in this town used to believe in things. What do you believe in?” The Joker is asked early in the film. He replies in a weird voice, slightly slow and awkward, as if he struggles to find the right shape for the words in his head.

“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you strange.”

MICHAEL BONNER

Leonard Cohen Plays First London Show In Fifteen Years

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Leonard Cohen Plays First London Show In Fifteen Years
Leonard Cohen performed a headlining show at London's O2 arena last night (July 17), playing a three hour set which included classics like "Sisters Of Mercy, "Suzanne" and "Bird On The Wire". Cohen's wit was much in evidence throughout, much of it at his own expense. In one anecdote, the 73 year ol...

Leonard Cohen performed a headlining show at London’s O2 arena last night (July 17), playing a three hour set which included classics like “Sisters Of Mercy, “Suzanne” and “Bird On The Wire”.

Cohen’s wit was much in evidence throughout, much of it at his own expense. In one anecdote, the 73 year old mentioned having a drink with “a teacher”, who is now 102 years old. “As we chinked glasses,” said Cohen, “He said ‘Excuse me for not dying…'”

The three hour set was received with a standing ovation. “Thank you friends,” Cohen said, “for your kind attention.”

To read UNCUT’s full review, and see the setlist, CLICK HERE for Uncut.co.uk’s LIVE REVIEWS BLOG

Pic credit: PA Photos

Leonard Cohen – London, O2 Arena: July 17, 2008

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So softly intoned is his music, and so privately consumed is it by his fans, the idea of a Leonard Cohen arena show is possibly a little bizarre. 43 dates into the summer leg of his world tour, as he addresses the 20,000 crowd in London's O2 Arena, it's plain that the 73-year old is well-attuned to the ironies in the situation. "Thank you for joining us," he says, "at a place just the other side of intimacy…" Witty, urbane – it's the perfect introduction to the Cohen show that follows. Over the next three hours, Cohen and his band deliver music that's representative of his many selves: the lightly picked guitar of his early records, the wry lounge-style treatments of his post 1990s-music, and in between, tastefully arranged full-band renderings of material like "Bird On A Wire", given a Dylanesque feel by Neil Larson's Hammond organ. Neil Larson? Like every other patron this evening, I know Neil Larson because Leonard has introduced him to me, and done so many times. Over the course of the show we meet all of the band members (three backing singers, two guitars, sax, bass, drums and keyboards) in a similar way, introduced by Cohen in unique fashion: "Javier Mas…the shepherd of strings…", and possibly most beautifully, "Dino Soldo…master of breath, on the instrument of wind…" All round, it's a show which, as you might hope, illustrates both the gravity of Cohen's music, and the great warmth of his wit. But as much as it is about those things, this is also a show with a prominent subtext about the blessings of a long life. What Cohen conveys in person is not so much age (he literally skips on stage and off; he frequently falls, Nick Cave-like to his knees to address guitar-player Javier Mas in song), as huge experience. Not least in the structuring of a show. Split into two unequal halves, (a 55 minute first section, and then an hour and three quarters second) the show establishes its own sedate, swaying pace with the great "Dance Me To The End Of Love", followed by "The Future", and "Ain't No Cure." "It's been 15 years since I last stood on a stage in London," he says, as he has with city-specific variation everywhere on this tour. "When I was just a 60-year old kid with a crazy dream…" Like everything else, Cohen's patter is polished to perfection. His years have evidently taught Cohen to self-deprecate. Dressed in a double-breasted suit and hat (he once remarked in an interview: "At my age if you don't wear a suit people think you're homeless"), he is throughout a master of humility and grace. After most songs, he removes his hat. Flattering to him and to us, he credits us for allowing events like this to take place: "Thank you for keeping my songs alive…"At one point he intones the word "(i)old(i)…" in a voice so deep, the cavernous O2 reverberates in sympathy with him In the second set, it is during "Hallelujah" that the show really begins to animate the crowd. Though it's arguably more familiar to us in its cover versions, Cohen's performance of the song is highly physical, as if he wishes to re-assert his ownership of the material. It's impressive stuff, and it earns him the first of the evening's standing ovations. Most interesting, perhaps is the recitation, "A Thousand Kisses Deep", which establishes Cohen, his voice, and his art, as the ultimate in romantic accomplishment. Behind me, a woman audibly gasps. Really, it's this should be the defining mood of the show. As you think about the words you've heard used a lot in the evening, you remember quite a lot of "ice", quite a lot of "old". Predominately, however, you remember a lot of love. JOHN ROBINSON Leonard Cohen's O2 Arena Set List was: Dance Me To The End Of Love The Future Ain't No Cure Bird On The Wire Everybody Knows Secret Life Who By Fire Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye Anthem Interval Tower Of Song Suzanne Gipsy Wife Boogie Street Hallelujah Democracy I'm Your Man A Thousand Kisses Deep Take This Waltz So Long, Marianne First We Take Manhattan Sisters Of Mercy If It Be Your Will Closing Time I Tried To Leave You Wither You Goest

So softly intoned is his music, and so privately consumed is it by his fans, the idea of a Leonard Cohen arena show is possibly a little bizarre. 43 dates into the summer leg of his world tour, as he addresses the 20,000 crowd in London’s O2 Arena, it’s plain that the 73-year old is well-attuned to the ironies in the situation. “Thank you for joining us,” he says, “at a place just the other side of intimacy…”

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Latitude Festival 2008: Franz, Death Cab and Julian Cope All Set For Opening Night

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Latitude Festival 2008: Franz, Death Cab and Julian Cope All Set For Opening Night
Latitude Festival 2008's festivities are under way at Henham Park, Suffolk. A record number of pre-festival attendees arriving for the now 25,000 capacity event arrived yesterday (July 17) to pitch up their living space for the weekend. For an Early Bird report of last's night's festival warm-ups, ...

Latitude Festival 2008‘s festivities are under way at Henham Park, Suffolk. A record number of pre-festival attendees arriving for the now 25,000 capacity event arrived yesterday (July 17) to pitch up their living space for the weekend.

For an Early Bird report of last’s night’s festival warm-ups, click here.

Scottish art rockers Franz Ferdinand, are the headliners for the opening night (July 18) in the Obelisk Arena. The group headed up by Alex Kapranos are likely to preview new material from their in-progress anticipated third studio album.

Also making appearances on the mainstage are Death Cab For Cutie, The Go! Team, British Sea Power and Beth Orton.

Meanwhile, several great acts are due to pack out the Uncut Arena tonight including Julian Cope, Martha Wainwright and Amadou & Mariam. Also playing are Howling Bells, Black Kids and recent Club Uncut player Micah P. Hinson.

All across the site the music, film, poetry, literary, comedy and theatre shows are warming up ready for a full-on SUNNY day in Suffolk.

Artists, authors and performers including Phil Kay, Hanif Kureshi, and Sadlers Wells are all set to appear today.

Stay up to date with all that’s occurring at this year’s Latitude Festival – with www.uncut.co.uk‘s round-the-clock coverage throughout the next three days.

Stay tuned to UNCUT’s dedicated LATITUDE Blog by clicking here or through our homepage www.uncut.co.uk.

Latitude Festival: Early Bird Report! (Thursday July 17)

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The reconnaissance branch of the Uncut team arrived at Latitude Festival yesterday and realised almost immediately that we were not alone in wanting to hit Henham Park Estate early this year. Thousands of music fans poured into the site a day early to set up camp and drink in the atmosphere before t...

The Water Cycle

The reconnaissance branch of the Uncut team arrived at Latitude Festival yesterday and realised almost immediately that we were not alone in wanting to hit Henham Park Estate early this year. Thousands of music fans poured into the site a day early to set up camp and drink in the atmosphere before the serious business of deciding what to see on the packed line-up!

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Yeasayer To Play August’s Club Uncut

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Yeasayer To Play August’s Club Uncut

Yeasayer have been confirmed today as the next headliners of Club Uncut. They will play King’s College on Surrey Street in London (as opposed to our regular venue of the Borderline) on Wednesday August 20. An Evening With Yeasayer follows previous sold-out Club Uncut nights featuring Joan As Police Woman, Okkervil River and, earlier this week, White Denim. Yeasayer, as you probably know, are one of the finest new bands to emerge in the last 12 months or so, a fearlessly eclectic quartet from (inevitably) Brooklyn. When we featured them in Uncut back in January, Sam Richards wrote, “They pass world music and experimental rock through the stadium-pop filter of Peter Gabriel, arriving at a kind of awesome apocalyptic soul not a million miles from that of fellow Brooklyn voyagers TV On The Radio.” As their superb debut album, All Hour Cymbals, proves, Yeasayer are a genuinely psychedelic proposition, and we’re honoured that they’ve agreed to play at this, our biggest Club Uncut yet. Tickets cost £11, and Uncut's exclusive allocation are available from 9am tomorrow (Friday August 18) at www.seetickets.com. The show is open to anyone over 14, though under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Yeasayer have been confirmed today as the next headliners of Club Uncut.

They will play King’s College on Surrey Street in London (as opposed to our regular venue of the Borderline) on Wednesday August 20. An Evening With Yeasayer follows previous sold-out Club Uncut nights featuring Joan As Police Woman, Okkervil River and, earlier this week, White Denim.

Yeasayer, as you probably know, are one of the finest new bands to emerge in the last 12 months or so, a fearlessly eclectic quartet from (inevitably) Brooklyn. When we featured them in Uncut back in January, Sam Richards wrote, “They pass world music and experimental rock through the stadium-pop filter of Peter Gabriel, arriving at a kind of awesome apocalyptic soul not a million miles from that of fellow Brooklyn voyagers TV On The Radio.”

As their superb debut album, All Hour Cymbals, proves, Yeasayer are a genuinely psychedelic proposition, and we’re honoured that they’ve agreed to play at this, our biggest Club Uncut yet.

Tickets cost £11, and Uncut’s exclusive allocation are available from 9am tomorrow (Friday August 18) at www.seetickets.com.

The show is open to anyone over 14, though under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Neil Young and Willie Nelson For This Year’s Farm Aid

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Neil Young and Willie Nelson For This Year’s Farm Aid
John Mellencamp has launched this year's Farm Aid and revealed some of the artists who will perform at the benefit show on September 20. Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, who are all on the board of directors for Farm Aid, have all agreed to perform at the annual concert. More acts will...

John Mellencamp has launched this year’s Farm Aid and revealed some of the artists who will perform at the benefit show on September 20.

Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, who are all on the board of directors for Farm Aid, have all agreed to perform at the annual concert.

More acts will be revealed soon, last year’s show in New York saw artists such as The Allman Brothers Band and Counting Crows perform at the money-raising show.

Farm Aid raises money and supports farmers, the organisation has so far raised over $30 million since the first show in 1985.

The 2008 event will be held in Massachusetts for the first time, and Mellencamp explained the decision saying: “New England was built on the strength of independent family farmers, “We can honor that independent spirit by joining Farm Aid to grow the movement that is changing the way all of America eats.”

Tickets for Farm Aid will go on sale on July 28.

Rolling Stone Enters Rehab

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Rolling Stone Enters Rehab
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has been admitted to a rehab centre, his spokesperson has confirmed. The confirmation comes after the musician has been subject to newspaper speculation that he had started drinking again and had been having an affair with a young model at his home in Ireland. ...

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has been admitted to a rehab centre, his spokesperson has confirmed.

The confirmation comes after the musician has been subject to newspaper speculation that he had started drinking again and had been having an affair with a young model at his home in Ireland.

Wood’s spokeswoman has now confirmed to the BBC that the artist is now being treated for his ‘continued battle with alcohol’ after previously being admitted for similar issues in 2002.

The spokeswoman has stated: “Following Ronnie’s continued battle with alcohol he has entered a period of rehab,” the spokesperson said. “His close family and friends say he is seeking help and look forward to his recovery.”

The Rolling Stones completed their three-year worldwide A Bigger Bang Tour late last year, documented in the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary film Shine A Light.

Pic credit: PA Photos

The 28th Uncut Playlist Of 2008

John Mulvey
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As the clouds gather, we’re readying ourselves for a weekend at Latitude. One more reminder that an extensive Uncut team will be blogging there non-stop from tomorrow morning. I’ll be vacating Wild Mercury Sound for the duration, and working on our special Latitude blog, where I imagine I’ll be covering Joanna Newsom, Elbow, Julian Cope, Michael Nyman, Wild Beasts and the children’s play area, amongst other things. Should be fun. In the meantime, here’s this week’s playlist. Belated thanks to Baptiste, by the way, who filed a useful preview of the Lambchop album, which we’ve finally received. Not as much cobblers in the list as last week, I’m pleased to say. . . 1. The Howling Hex – Earth Junk (Drag City) 2. TK Webb & The Visions – Ancestor (Kemado) 3. Bloc Party – Mercury (Wichita) 4. Lambchop – Ohio (City Slang) 5. Gilberto Gil – Expresso 2222 (Water) 6. Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park (4AD) 7. Grinderman – The Treacle Sessions Sampler (Mute) 8. Indian Jewelry – Free Gold (We Are Free) 9. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue (Rough Trade) 10. Aliens – Luna (Pet Rock) 11. Babe, Terror – NASA Goodbye (Myspace) 12. Genesis – From Genesis To Revelation (Varese Sarabande) 13. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires (XL) 14. Various Artists – Give Me Love: Songs Of The Brokenhearted – Baghdad 1925-1929 (Honest Jon’s) 15. James Jackson Toth – Waiting In Vain (Rykodisc) 16 Psychedelic Horseshit – New Wave Hippies (Half Machine)

As the clouds gather, we’re readying ourselves for a weekend at Latitude. One more reminder that an extensive Uncut team will be blogging there non-stop from tomorrow morning. I’ll be vacating Wild Mercury Sound for the duration, and working on our special Latitude blog, where I imagine I’ll be covering Joanna Newsom, Elbow, Julian Cope, Michael Nyman, Wild Beasts and the children’s play area, amongst other things. Should be fun.

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Latitude Festival: One more sleep to go!

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LATITUDE FESTIVAL is gearing up to kick off tomorrow (July 17), and www.uncut.co.uk's tent has arrived and the air mattresses and sleeping bags are packed and we're ready to set off to Suffolk tomorrow. We're looking forward to starting off our festival weekend, taking in the atmosphere when the ...

LATITUDE FESTIVAL is gearing up to kick off tomorrow (July 17), and www.uncut.co.uk‘s tent has arrived and the air mattresses and sleeping bags are packed and we’re ready to set off to Suffolk tomorrow.

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Babe, Terror: “NASA Goodbye”

John Mulvey
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A bit stretched today, with next month’s issue nearly finished and a load of fiendish strategising to be done in preparation for the Latitude festival (I’ll be blogging live from there all weekend, incidentally, over at our dedicated blog). One band who won’t be at Latitude – or anywhere on this continent, I suspect – are Babe, Terror, a Brazilian group (or maybe they’re a solo project by someone called Claudio; I can’t be sure) who I’ve been excited by over the past few weeks. Babe, Terror come from Sao Paolo, and maybe the best and most reductive way to describe them is as a kind of Tropicalia Animal Collective. Most of the tracks at their Myspace are built around disconcertingly treated, ethereal vocal harmonics; great Beach Boysian sighs punctuated by all manner of squawks and yelps reverberating from deep in the foliage. Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” might be an even better reference than his parent band, minus the beats. Some associate of the band tipped me off about them by email (and how rarely does one of those unsolicited directions to a Myspace pay off as well as this?). He dropped another note this week to alert me to a new track, “Mount Dorothy”, to suggest that an EP would be coming out – where, precisely, I have no idea – and to point out that Pitchfork, Sasha Frere-Jones and various other places who are quicker than me at plugging new bands had featured Babe, Terror. Try the unstable, weightless “NASA Goodbye”, which occasionally reminds me of a ghostly, slow-motion doo-wop requiem, first. Babe, Terror describe their music as “Tropical/Religious/Club”, and the last comment on their page, encouragingly, is from No Age, who write: “Wait. . . Did we really break your guitars?” I like this a lot, as you can probably guess.

A bit stretched today, with next month’s issue nearly finished and a load of fiendish strategising to be done in preparation for the Latitude festival (I’ll be blogging live from there all weekend, incidentally, over at our dedicated blog).

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Latitude Festival: Kicks Off Tomorrow!

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Latitude Festival: Kicks Off Tomorrow!
LATITUDE FESTIVAL is gearing up to kick off tomorrow (July 17), and www.uncut.co.uk's tent has arrived and the air mattresses and sleeping bags are packed and we're ready to set off to Suffolk tomorrow. We're looking forward to starting off our festival weekend, taking in the atmosphere when the fe...

LATITUDE FESTIVAL is gearing up to kick off tomorrow (July 17), and www.uncut.co.uk‘s tent has arrived and the air mattresses and sleeping bags are packed and we’re ready to set off to Suffolk tomorrow.

We’re looking forward to starting off our festival weekend, taking in the atmosphere when the festival arena gates open at 5pm.

Tomorrow night we will certainly be winding down from camp setting up by heading down to the lake for Simon Desorgher’s Music of the Spheres: described as a bizarre sort of ballet involving a giant white floating sphere, set to speaker-bounced flute music from a flautist suspended INSIDE the bubble…The show starts at 10pm.

Meanwhile early evening will see The Irrepressibles Light & Shadow Sound Installations show In The Woods area take place from 5.45pm. Award-winning sound artist William Turner-Duffin and lighting designer Andy Hammond have created an ambient show with the help of a ten-piece orchestra.

If you’re coming to what will be the music and arts event of the Summer -make sure you check out our recommended artists and performer’s Countdown Previews – where we are attempting to forecast some of the expected highlights for the forthcoming weekend!

Click on the artist names to see more…Julian Cope, British Sea Power, dEUS, Martha Wainwright, Death Cab For Cutie, The Coral, The Breeders, Grinderman and Buzzcocks.

Weather watch: the Halesworth 5-day forecast is looking changeable, with heavy rain due to fall on Saturday, but the skies look like they are going to clear for a FULL day of sun on Sunday!

Latitude festival organisers are also urging all those travelling to the site by train to go to Ipswich and get the shuttle buses to the site from there.

Stay up to date with all that will be occuring at Latitude – pre-festival, at the festival, and post-festival. Everything. We’ll be reporting at www.uncut.co.uk throughout and then collating YOUR views and reviews when you get back!

Stay tuned to UNCUT’s dedicated LATITUDE Blog by clicking here or through our homepage www.uncut.co.uk.

Hendrix’s ‘Burning’ Guitar To Be Auctioned

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Hendrix’s ‘Burning’ Guitar To Be Auctioned
Jimi Hendrix's 1965 Fender Stratocaster, the first guitar the musician famously set on fire is expected to fetch in the region of £500,000 ($1 million) when it goes under the hammer at auction in London on September 4, 2008. The guitar, burnt at Hendrix's gig at London's Finsbury Astoria on March ...

Jimi Hendrix‘s 1965 Fender Stratocaster, the first guitar the musician famously set on fire is expected to fetch in the region of £500,000 ($1 million) when it goes under the hammer at auction in London on September 4, 2008.

The guitar, burnt at Hendrix’s gig at London’s Finsbury Astoria on March 31, 1967, was found only last year by his original press officer Tony Garland’s nephew. It had been kept in the house of Jimi Hendrix Experience bass player Noel Redding, before being moved to the garage of Garland’s parents.

The Fender Strat, still fully intact, has visible flame scorches on the neck and pickboard.

Hendrix also set his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival the same year, but the Astoria Fender is the only one to have survived.

The auction, which will take place at the Idea Generation Gallery near London’s Liverpool street will also see several other special rock’n’roll items sold.

The sale includes the last surviving Ludwig drumkit which belonged to late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. The five-piece kit is the only Bonham-owned intstrument to exist outside the family estate and is estimated at £20, 000.

Jim Morrison‘s final 20 page notebook of poetry from Paris from 1971 is also up for sale. The book contains lyrics and musings and was given to a friend just before his death. The spiral notebook is expected to go for between £80,000 and £100, 000.

Kings of Leon To Play Arena Tour

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Kings of Leon To Play Arena Tour
Kings of Leon have announced a full UK arena tour to take place in December. The Followill brothers, who in the past month have played triumphant headline slots at Glastonbury, Oxegen and T in the Park festivals, will now return for another eleven shows at the end of the year, after the release of...

Kings of Leon have announced a full UK arena tour to take place in December.

The Followill brothers, who in the past month have played triumphant headline slots at Glastonbury, Oxegen and T in the Park festivals, will now return for another eleven shows at the end of the year, after the release of their new studio album Only By The Night.

The band’s fourth LP is set for release on September 11.

Tickets for the new shows will go on sale this Friday (July 18) at 9am.

Kings of Leon are set to play the following arenas:

Brighton Centre (December 1)

Nottingham Trent FM Arena (2)

Newcastle Metro Arena (4)

Sheffield Arena (5)

Glasgow SECC (7)

Liverpool Echo Arena (8)

Birmingham NIA (10)

London O2 Arena (11)

Bournemouth BIC (14)

Manchester Evening News Arena (16)

Cardiff International Arena (17)

In the meantime, they also play the following UK shows:

Brixton Academy, London UK (Sold Out) (14)

V Festival, Weston Park, Staffordshire UK (16)

V Festival, Hylands Park, Chelmsford UK (17)

Bob Dylan Track To Appear On Rock Band Game Sequel

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Bob Dylan Track To Appear On Rock Band Game Sequel

Music from Bob Dylan, Guns N’ Roses and AC/DC are among the latest artists to be added to the Rock Band game franchise on Xbox. Rock Band 2 – the follow-up to the hugely successful Xbox video game will see Bob Dylan's debut on a video game, with the 1975 song “Tangled Up In Blue”, from the album Blood On The Tracks being made available to play. Highly anticipated new material from Guns N’ Roses's long long awaited Chinese Democracy album is also to appear on the game. The track “Shackler’s Revenge” will be the first track to be officially released from the album. AC/DC have also signed up for an exclusive deal licensing their material to the game, where players form a virtual band and play along to famous songs on 'console' instruments. Since it launched last year, Rock Band is reported to have generated over $200 million for its developers, Harmonix Music Systems. Rock Band 2 is released in September.

Music from Bob Dylan, Guns N’ Roses and AC/DC are among the latest artists to be added to the Rock Band game franchise on Xbox.

Rock Band 2 – the follow-up to the hugely successful Xbox video game will see Bob Dylan’s debut on a video game, with the 1975 song “Tangled Up In Blue”, from the album Blood On The Tracks being made available to play.

Highly anticipated new material from Guns N’ Roses‘s long long awaited Chinese Democracy album is also to appear on the game. The track “Shackler’s Revenge” will be the first track to be officially released from the album.

AC/DC have also signed up for an exclusive deal licensing their material to the game, where players form a virtual band and play along to famous songs on ‘console’ instruments.

Since it launched last year, Rock Band is reported to have generated over $200 million for its developers, Harmonix Music Systems.

Rock Band 2 is released in September.

Micah P Hinson – Club Uncut, July 14, 2008-07-15

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John’s written on his Wild Mercury Sound site about last night’s extraordinary performance by White Denim at the latest Club Uncut at the Borderline. It was, as he says, truly mind-blowing – especially coming almost straight after we’d just seen The Hold Steady at HMV in somewhat comical circumstances – and in the circumstances inevitably headline-grabbing. It’d be a pity, though, to completely overlook the earlier appearance at the Borderline of White Denim’s Full Time Hobby label-mate, Abilene’s Micah P Hinson. He arrives about three minutes before he’s due onstage, clutching a colourful rucksack from which he proceeds to pull bits and pieces, including a notebook with tonight’s set list, a couple of bottle of waters and what looks like the kind of white cap he might set jauntily upon his head before setting off for a round of golf. He looks quite comical in said cap and a black suit that on some parts of his body looks uncomfortably tight, a size at least too small, and hangs elsewhere baggily from his frame. But when the lights go down and the audience settles into an anticipatory hush, all needless chatter giving way to an expectant hum, he’s suddenly transformed. He still looks from a certain angle geekily malevolent, like the young Elvis Costello, but when his dark, deep voice comes into play, he sounds like someone who should have been hanging in mid-70s Austin, propping up the bar of some murky saloon with Wille and Waylon and a bunch of their renegade outlaw mates, the kind of people whose lives are spent falling through cracks in the bar room floor into some abyss below out of which they periodically clamber to broadcast via their songs all due regret for their often unreasonable behaviour and the things they’ve done. Micah’s new album, Mica P Hinson And The Red Empire Orchestra, is out today, he’s got the sleeve taped to the front of his guitar and most of what he plays is from it – including “I Keep Having These Dreams”, which starts as something mournful and bereft and ends up like Tom Waits essaying something as emotionally traumatic as Costello’s “I Want You”. “We Don’t Have To be Lonesome” and “Wishing Well And The Willow Tree” follow, equally as powerful in these strong unadorned versions, but both eclipsed by the late arrival of the ultimately sombre “Dyin’ Alone”. And then, he’s off, and quickly followed by 45 minutes of rhapsodic garage band freak-outs from White Denim, the comparatively brittle dynamics of their Workout Holiday album not apparent here at all in what at times is a maelstrom of extraordinary noise, the songs they play from the album usually prefaced by lengthy instrumental jams that occasionally and quite unexpectedly put me in mind of Big Dave, Patrick Walden’s new band, who I wrote about yesterday, especially when White Denim, like Big Dave last Friday, evoke the ghost of Jimi Hendrix. Another great night at Club Uncut, then!

John’s written on his Wild Mercury Sound site about last night’s extraordinary performance by White Denim at the latest Club Uncut at the Borderline. It was, as he says, truly mind-blowing – especially coming almost straight after we’d just seen The Hold Steady at HMV in somewhat comical circumstances – and in the circumstances inevitably headline-grabbing. It’d be a pity, though, to completely overlook the earlier appearance at the Borderline of White Denim’s Full Time Hobby label-mate, Abilene’s Micah P Hinson.

Continue

Vampire Weekend Return To UK For More Dates

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Vampire Weekend Return To UK For More Dates
Vampire Weekend have announced that they will return to the UK for a new tour starting in October. The Brooklyn band who recently played to huge audiences at last weekend's T in the Park and Ireland's Oxegen festivals will kick off the new dates at the Birmingham Academy on October 20. Vampire Wee...

Vampire Weekend have announced that they will return to the UK for a new tour starting in October.

The Brooklyn band who recently played to huge audiences at last weekend’s T in the Park and Ireland’s Oxegen festivals will kick off the new dates at the Birmingham Academy on October 20.

Vampire Weekend are scheduled to play the following dates:

Birmingham Academy (October 20)

Manchester Academy (21)

Sheffield Academy (22)

London Forum (24, 25)

Newcastle Academy (28)

Glasgow Barrowlands (29)

Liverpool Academy (30)

Bristol Academy (31)

You can read a review of Vampire Weekend’s London show earlier this year by clicking here for Uncut’s Wild Mercury Sound blog.

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