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The Alexandro Jodorowsky Collection

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The Alexandro Jodorowsky Collection

In 1971, the Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky arrived in New York from Mexico carrying the only print of a film he'd written, directed, scored, and starred in: El Topo. A surreal Zen-western, it instantly became the first phenomenon of the city's midnight movie scene, attracting a cult of freaks and faces including John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan and Dennis Hopper. Although this set also resurrects Jodorowsky's first feature, 1968's avant-garde parable Fando And Lis, El Topo is where his legend begins. Thirty six years on, the movie retains all its freak-out power. It starts like Leone, with Jodorowsky's black-clad gunslinger riding the desert. By the time he goes looking for four mystic gun gurus, it's like Monkey by Fellini. The final third - with Jodorowsky transformed into a humbled, bald albino messiah, tunnelling through a mountain - is like nothing you've seen before. Few would have believed he could top El Topo. They figured without 1973's The Holy Mountain. Working with a much bigger budget, courtesy of Lennon, Jodorowsky sets his vision free in a fried New Age fable, shot like a Technicolor comic-book. He plays guru to a group of would-be immortals - including, apparently, Christ - seeking to scale the Holy Mountain and replace the illuminati at the top. You'll have no idea what's happening, but there's plenty to see, including toads and lizards re-enacting the conquest of Mexico. In costume. These films are grotesque, haunted warehouses, filled with references to religion, the occult, philosophy, psychology, art history, other movies. They could be dismissed as addled, pretentious products of their time, were it not for a cruel, ambiguous humour, and the violent, searing power of Jodorowsky's imagery and imagination. Whatever else they are, they're unforgettable. Now 77, Jodorowsky's cult remains. He's threatened to return with a gangster movie starring Marilyn Manson as a 300-year-old Pope. You wouldn't put it past him. EXTRAS: Jodorowsky commentaries; his 1957 mime short, La Cravate, documentaries, deleted scenes, soundtrack CDs. 5* DAMIEN LOVE Q&A ALEXANDRO JODOROWSKY UNCUT: Where did the idea for El Topo come from? JODOROWSKY: In the beginning it was a fairy story. I was meditating five years with a Japanese monk, and I decided not to make a Western, but an Eastern. When I was a child going to see cowboy pictures, I was never seeing the history of North America. I thought the cowboy's country was a fairy country. That's what I wanted. Is it true George Harrison was lined up to play the Christ figure in The Holy Mountain? He wanted to play the thief. Bob Dylan also; but they also offered to Dylan in that moment Peckinpah, and Dylan said "I feel more Peckinpah." But Harrison was interested. He read the script and said: "The script was very good, but there is shot I don't want to do: you show on screen my bottom, they are cleaning my bottom." I say, "You don't want to show your bottom? I cannot do a picture with you!" And so I take a guy, an unknown person from Mexico. Maybe I make the mistake of my life, I don't know. But I don't want to make one concession. I want to do what I want.

In 1971, the Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky arrived in New York from Mexico carrying the only print of a film he’d written, directed, scored, and starred in: El Topo. A surreal Zen-western, it instantly became the first phenomenon of the city’s midnight movie scene, attracting a cult of freaks and faces including John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan and Dennis Hopper.

Although this set also resurrects Jodorowsky’s first feature, 1968’s avant-garde parable Fando And Lis, El Topo is where his legend begins. Thirty six years on, the movie retains all its freak-out power.

It starts like Leone, with Jodorowsky’s black-clad gunslinger riding the desert. By the time he goes looking for four mystic gun gurus, it’s like Monkey by Fellini. The final third – with Jodorowsky transformed into a humbled, bald albino messiah, tunnelling through a mountain – is like nothing you’ve seen before.

Few would have believed he could top El Topo. They figured without 1973’s The Holy Mountain. Working with a much bigger budget, courtesy of Lennon, Jodorowsky sets his vision free in a fried New Age fable, shot like a Technicolor comic-book. He plays guru to a group of would-be immortals – including, apparently, Christ – seeking to scale the Holy Mountain and replace the illuminati at the top. You’ll have no idea what’s happening, but there’s plenty to see, including toads and lizards re-enacting the conquest of Mexico. In costume.

These films are grotesque, haunted warehouses, filled with references to religion, the occult, philosophy, psychology, art history, other movies. They could be dismissed as addled, pretentious products of their time, were it not for a cruel, ambiguous humour, and the violent, searing power of Jodorowsky’s imagery and imagination. Whatever else they are, they’re unforgettable. Now 77, Jodorowsky’s cult remains. He’s threatened to return with a gangster movie starring Marilyn Manson as a 300-year-old Pope. You wouldn’t put it past him.

EXTRAS: Jodorowsky commentaries; his 1957 mime short, La Cravate, documentaries, deleted scenes, soundtrack CDs.

5*

DAMIEN LOVE

Q&A ALEXANDRO JODOROWSKY

UNCUT: Where did the idea for El Topo come from?

JODOROWSKY: In the beginning it was a fairy story. I was meditating five years with a Japanese monk, and I decided not to make a Western, but an Eastern. When I was a child going to see cowboy pictures, I was never seeing the history of North America. I thought the cowboy’s country was a fairy country. That’s what I wanted.

Is it true George Harrison was lined up to play the Christ figure in The Holy Mountain?

He wanted to play the thief. Bob Dylan also; but they also offered to Dylan in that moment Peckinpah, and Dylan said “I feel more Peckinpah.” But Harrison was interested. He read the script and said: “The script was very good, but there is shot I don’t want to do: you show on screen my bottom, they are cleaning my bottom.” I say, “You don’t want to show your bottom? I cannot do a picture with you!” And so I take a guy, an unknown person from Mexico. Maybe I make the mistake of my life, I don’t know. But I don’t want to make one concession. I want to do what I want.

Joy Division, the Coen Brothers and Michael Moore

Michael Bonner
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In which Stephen Dalton files his first report from this year's Cannes Film Festival... Look! U2 playing a mini-gig on the red carpet! New Order shunning their own party! Roman Polanski storming off in a huff from a supergroup gathering of legendary directors! Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie igniting the kind of savage media frenzy not seen since Beatlemania! All in punishing 80-degree heat! And thronged by a perpetual crush of leather-skinned, Versace-clad Eurotrash! Yes, it’s Cannes again. Greetings from your slightly frazzled Uncut reporter at the world’s most glamorous and sense-battering film festival, which turns 60 this year but shows no sign of midlife burn-out. Whatever you say about New Order, their sense of timing has always been dramatic. Making its world premier at Cannes is Control, Anton Corbijn’s elegant film about the troubled life and early death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Shot in crisp monochrome and starring newcomer Sam Riley as Curtis, this is a beautiful and admirably restrained piece of work, and one of the key festival highlights so far. But just days before the screening, Peter Hook announced that New Order are splitting for good. The only problem is, nobody told his bandmates and fellow Joy Division survivors Bernard Sumner and Steven Morris. “We’ve not discussed splitting up, he’s decided were splitting up,” a bemused Sumner tells Uncut. “He’s been acting a bit strange lately, let’s leave it at that. He’s done it unilaterally. Hooky has had a few problems over the last two years of a personal nature, which I can’t go into. It would really be up to him to answer. He’s got ego problems, that’s the most critical I’ll get.” Speaking of giant egos, Michael Moore is back in Cannes with his new blockbuster documentary polemic three years after winning the Palme d’Or for Fahrenheit 9/11. Less bombastic than its predecessor, Sicko exposes the flaws and failings of the United States health care system with a classic Moore mix of interviews, old footage and satirical stunts. It opens with an excoriating attack on health insurance companies which, the director alleges, routinely refuse to pay for legitimate treatment on flimsy and legally dubious grounds. But it is the segment shot in Cuba, with its hilarious cloak-and-dagger launch on Guantanamo Bay that has landed the director in his own serious legal problems at home. Learning he is under investigation for possibly breaking US law forbidding trade or travel to Cuba was not, he told Cannes reporters, a publicity stunt. “Our decision was to come here quietly, I’d said nothing about the film,” Moore insisted after the Cannes screening. “I am the one who is personally liable, who is facing fines or jail. I don’t take it so lightly. But to me, the fact we are discussing this is insane. I live in the United States of America. It is a free country; we should be able to travel freely and do what we want.” Besides the Corbijn and Moore movies, Uncut’s pick of the festival so far has to be the latest Coen brothers collaboration, No Country For Old Men. Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel, this noir-ish neo-western is a stylish and sombre chase thriller about desperate men and indestructible killers framed against the almost Biblical landscape of West Texas. This is the most straight-faced and irony-free film to date from the deadpan brothers, and also the most violent. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, the tone is more Blood Simple than Fargo, with a dash of Sam Peckinpah in its merciless depiction of cruel fate and frontier justice. Like the sound of gunshot on a lonely highway, it stays with you. Got to rush now, off to interview the Coens now… more Cannes news coming soon.

In which Stephen Dalton files his first report from this year’s Cannes Film Festival…

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John Lennon Festival Lights Up Highlands Village

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John Lennon Festival Lights Up Highlands Village

The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival has been given the go-ahead to take place in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands. Durness, with a population of 356, will host a three day festival in tribute to the late Beatle from September 28 -30, featuring top music artists, playwrights and authors. Artists so far confirmed include jazz performer Joe Stilgoe, Nizpoli, King Creosote and Mr Hudson & The Library. Poets attending include John Cooper Clarke and carol Ann Duffy. Writer Alastair McIntosh, who has inspired Radiohead's Thom Yorke among others, will also be appearing at the festival. One special event will se him rapping with Nizlopi in Smoo Cave, Britain's biggest sea cave. Festival director Mike Merritt has also confirmed that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Queen's Master of Music, will lead lead the classical programme and present a world premiere of a Beatles Prom with the Royal Academy of Music. The village of Durness was an area that greatly inspired Lennon - he spent his childhood holidays between the ages of 9 and 13 in the village and returned with his son Julian, wife Yoko Ono, and her daughter Kyoko in 1969. It is also believed that Lennon asked relatives to try and buy the village, shortly before his death in 1980. The village is also said to be part of the inspiration his song "In My Life." The festival has been endorsed by Lennon's family, and sister Julia Baird will be taking part in the events. She says she's "delighted to be involved in what is a high quality event which has taste and respect at its core. We are all looking forward very much to coming again to a place that meant so much to my brother." The announcement about the festival comes just prior to the 40th anniversary of iconic Beatles LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Tickets for the festival are now available here from the North Highland Tourism board

The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival has been given the go-ahead to take place in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands.

Durness, with a population of 356, will host a three day festival in tribute to the late Beatle from September 28 -30, featuring top music artists, playwrights and authors.

Artists so far confirmed include jazz performer Joe Stilgoe, Nizpoli, King Creosote and Mr Hudson & The Library. Poets attending include John Cooper Clarke and carol Ann Duffy.

Writer Alastair McIntosh, who has inspired Radiohead’s Thom Yorke among others, will also be appearing at the festival. One special event will se him rapping with Nizlopi in Smoo Cave, Britain’s biggest sea cave.

Festival director Mike Merritt has also confirmed that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Queen’s Master of Music, will lead lead the classical programme and present a world premiere of a Beatles Prom with the Royal Academy of Music.

The village of Durness was an area that greatly inspired Lennon – he spent his childhood holidays between the ages of 9 and 13 in the village and returned with his son Julian, wife Yoko Ono, and her daughter Kyoko in 1969.

It is also believed that Lennon asked relatives to try and buy the village, shortly before his death in 1980. The village is also said to be part of the inspiration his song “In My Life.”

The festival has been endorsed by Lennon’s family, and sister Julia Baird will be taking part in the events. She says she’s “delighted to be involved in what is a high quality event which has taste and respect at its core. We are all looking forward very much to coming again to a place that meant so much to my brother.”

The announcement about the festival comes just prior to the 40th anniversary of iconic Beatles LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Tickets for the festival are now available here from the North Highland Tourism board

Musical Skinny Dipping In Brighton

Uncut
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Musical Skinny Dipping In Brighton

And so to day three of The Great Escape. It’s a late start to the day, and Uncut is awoken to a message to get down to the Theatre Royal, where The Noisettes are playing a secret show ahead of their gig tonight at the Beach Club. There is dancing on the Theatre’s balcony. Unfortunately, the Cup Final has just started, and it’ll be over before I can get there. Apparently they were brilliant fun. The surprise shows that have been springing up all over Brighton have been a treat, and make it feel more like a proper festival, just in a concrete town-shaped field. Though it’s annoying when you miss something cool! Trying to cover the whole festival, and getting a taste of as many bands as possible has not been the easiest of tasks. It would be possible to come down and just see bands, actually stay for entire sets and just relax and enjoy it. But where’s the fun in that? These are short showcases (bands play for a maximum of 30 minutes). The festival is an opportunity for new bands to get exposure, and for old bands with new material to test. Dipping in and out of venues is kinda how it’s meant to be. I think. Tonight there are a couple of fairly established bands playing amongst the 100 new acts, like The Magic Numbers and British Sea Power, but I have an inkling I’ll be spending quite a bit of time at the Uncut café tonight. The haunting Alberta Cross and country maverick Micah P Hinson are both appearing. And I’m definitely intending to make time to take a pew to see all what they have to offer. But as they are not on till a bit later, I go out of my way to immerse myself in a random selection of genres. First up, I see an electro outfit called Neoon Plastix, a bunch of kids from Doncaster. The singer with his shouty vocals and random rave noise-making machine definitely looks and sounds the epitomy of hi-NRG nu-rave by numbers. The guitarist wears polka dots and the drummer a t-shirt with a big neon ‘OK!’ written on it. When they stop to talk between songs, they sound ignorant, shattering the illusion of the great mouthy arrogance of the songs. They’re OK, but enough of that. I head up to the Red Roaster, which I keep mistakenly calling the Red Rooster. Opening act for the final night is singer Dan Mangan and he has just finished. Trio Alberta Cross are setting up their equipment at the front of the room, and the place is full to capacity yet again. People are coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why they should be let in ahead of the queue, and the ones inside are all scrambling to get copies of the band's album autographed. They play an acoustic set, moving unannounced from their quiet jamming soundcheck straight into the start of the set with ease. The bareness of the instruments makes their songs seem even more startling and starkly brilliant. The floppy-haired, hat-wearing singer stops between songs to gulp down red wine which is located beneath the Viscount keyboard/organ. By the end of the second track, the room feels like a church, with us all sitting on the floor or at tables, listening to the country gospel hymns that Petter and Terry sing. He’s often compared to a younger Neil Young, and the similarities in voice are definitely present. They play shortened, stripped-down versions of “Lucy Rider” and “Hard Breaks” because they don’t have a lot of time left to play. Both songs are absolutely heartbreakingly good. They finish with “Old Man Chicago” with a plug for their debut album “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” and leave the whole room foot tapping with delight. It’s 9.15pm now, and I have a difficult decision to make, I want to see the electronic indie of Maps at the Udderbelly, yesterday's Uncut headliner Jack Penate is playing a second show at the Beach Club, and tipped band Mumm-ra are on at 9.30 down by the sea. Practically, I head for Maps as it’s just across the road from the Red Roaster. I’ve wanted to come to the Udderbelly since Thursday, assuming it’s an outdoor stage because it’s a giant inflatable purple cow. Alas, no. Once through the Moo Garden with its Moo Bar and Moo Loos, I’m lead up a ramp and into the BELLY of the cow. It’s brilliant inside, and a bit disconcerting. It’s dark, apart from the purple and pink lights in the pseudo-smoke, and it turns out the venue is running behind schedule. New EMI signings Tiny Dancers are still performing, and the singer’s peroxide blonde hair is the giveaway. They play a track called “Ashes And Diamonds” which is a bog standard indie track dressed up with a twang of country. It starts off nice enough, but doesn’t seem to go anywhere. They finish and dismantling their equipment seems to take a very long time. As well as the usual instruments, too many cuddly animal toys and balloons seem to have been used as props. Nottingham music man Maps I really want to see, but now I’m completely off schedule if I want to see other bands. There’s a lot of keyboards and pedals etc that the band need and I’m getting restless watching everything get plugged in, I’ll just have to skip it and hope that Mumm-ra are running late too. So I dash to Audio, back on Marine Parade. As expected, it’s a ‘one in one out’ gig, and the bouncers say no, so now I’m off to Kabuki at the farthest end of the seafront. Neil’s Children are on at the venue hosted by Artrocker magazine. The band who don’t consist of anyone called Neil, are playing in the corner of the downstairs of the bar. The bar is packed. And none of us can see anything. Every now and then I glimpse a fringe or their drummer’s fantastically huge black hair style. Good job their music is loud and full of strong guitar riffs. “Another Day” is very thrashy Clash-y and “Window Shopping” is pretty good too. They also play upcoming single “You Didn’t Care”, which apparently former Creation Records owner Alan McGee has described as “the Cure for the now generation.” Not quite sure they sound like the Cure, though. Neil’s Children stickers are stuck to everyone in the room by the time I leave the sweatpit. I have to dash back to the Red Roaster, ‘cos Texan guitarist Micah P Hinson is due on shortly and I’ve been warned it’s going to be busy. I see some strange road signs on the way; I chuckle at indie band Good Shoes' “Morden Life Is Rubbish” the first time I see it. The indie band are playing tonight at the Pavilion Theatre, I might have time to get there after Micah. The other is “This way to Cirque Surreal” – turns out to be the Bangkok Lady Boys show in a circus tent that’s been sold out every night this week. 10.26pm. Café is crammed again, right down to the front, the anticipation-charged hush is a strange feeling after just rocking at Kabuki. Micah P Hinson, with his name embroidered on a leather guitar strap, and navy trucker's cap is joined by musicians Nick Phelps on banjo and Jason Nevilles on drums. The laidback atmosphere is brilliant. Micah plays acoustic tales of abstract woe, and transports the people in the room to somewhere in the desert wastelands in the old days. He plays a song, “Beneath The Road”, which he says when he first recorded it, came out sounding like a hip-hop record. This gets a massive laugh, and is the beginning of a constant interaction with his audience. He sings a short, almost ode-like song about having ‘no worries now’ before warming up to playing real twangy country notes on his guitar, with a song inspired by the Carter Family. Micah starts mumbling to the crowd that “the Carter Family practically invented Country & Western music. If you’ve never heard of them, you really should check them out.” His Southern drawl whilst he’s tuning his guitar is amusing as he says, “Oh am I rambling. I do apologise.” The enthralled fans giggle. He plays an old track, “Digging The Grave”, before he stops to light a cigarette. He smokes using a small black holder and he places it in the side of his mouth. And then he carries on singing the next track. Whilst still puffing smoke. A very bizarre but clever sight. He sounds grittier and more bluesy now. Alas, the show is about to end, and Micah claims he only has three minutes left to play. ‘Oh No’ shout back the crowd. Bartering goes on between the crowd, Micah and the sound engineer, and eventually it’s agreed that two more songs can be had. Great! He sings “Leaning Guides” then treats us to a brand new track, that they’ve practised live only once before. “There’s Only One Name” is a really countrified song, with great lyrics, and for the last track of the night – is nicely upbeat. But yes! They’re squeezing in another song for us! More precious time is being lost with Micah lighting a cigarette for Nevilles and himself and still bantering about feeling like ‘the three Stooges’ up there. They then play the brilliantly named song “The Day Texas Sank To The Bottom Of The Sea.” And that’s it, no more singers or bands on my agenda tonight. It's 11.20 and there are some Great Escape gigs still not finished and plenty of parties erupting all across Saturday night Brighton. However, I feel far too chilled out from the brilliant musical treats of the Uncut café tonight. I think going to a party at the Ocean Rooms where I hear Razorlight are DJing would just spoil it a little. Brighton, it’s been a blast. FARAH ISHAQ

And so to day three of The Great Escape.

It’s a late start to the day, and Uncut is awoken to a message to get down to the Theatre Royal, where The Noisettes are playing a secret show ahead of their gig tonight at the Beach Club. There is dancing on the Theatre’s balcony. Unfortunately, the Cup Final has just started, and it’ll be over before I can get there. Apparently they were brilliant fun. The surprise shows that have been springing up all over Brighton have been a treat, and make it feel more like a proper festival, just in a concrete town-shaped field. Though it’s annoying when you miss something cool!

Trying to cover the whole festival, and getting a taste of as many bands as possible has not been the easiest of tasks. It would be possible to come down and just see bands, actually stay for entire sets and just relax and enjoy it. But where’s the fun in that? These are short showcases (bands play for a maximum of 30 minutes). The festival is an opportunity for new bands to get exposure, and for old bands with new material to test. Dipping in and out of venues is kinda how it’s meant to be. I think.

Tonight there are a couple of fairly established bands playing amongst the 100 new acts, like The Magic Numbers and British Sea Power, but I have an inkling I’ll be spending quite a bit of time at the Uncut café tonight. The haunting Alberta Cross and country maverick Micah P Hinson are both appearing. And I’m definitely intending to make time to take a pew to see all what they have to offer. But as they are not on till a bit later, I go out of my way to immerse myself in a random selection of genres.

First up, I see an electro outfit called Neoon Plastix, a bunch of kids from Doncaster. The singer with his shouty vocals and random rave noise-making machine definitely looks and sounds the epitomy of hi-NRG nu-rave by numbers. The guitarist wears polka dots and the drummer a t-shirt with a big neon ‘OK!’ written on it. When they stop to talk between songs, they sound ignorant, shattering the illusion of the great mouthy arrogance of the songs.

They’re OK, but enough of that. I head up to the Red Roaster, which I keep mistakenly calling the Red Rooster. Opening act for the final night is singer Dan Mangan and he has just finished. Trio Alberta Cross are setting up their equipment at the front of the room, and the place is full to capacity yet again. People are coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why they should be let in ahead of the queue, and the ones inside are all scrambling to get copies of the band’s album autographed.

They play an acoustic set, moving unannounced from their quiet jamming soundcheck straight into the start of the set with ease. The bareness of the instruments makes their songs seem even more startling and starkly brilliant. The floppy-haired, hat-wearing singer stops between songs to gulp down red wine which is located beneath the Viscount keyboard/organ. By the end of the second track, the room feels like a church, with us all sitting on the floor or at tables, listening to the country gospel hymns that Petter and Terry sing.

He’s often compared to a younger Neil Young, and the similarities in voice are definitely present. They play shortened, stripped-down versions of “Lucy Rider” and “Hard Breaks” because they don’t have a lot of time left to play. Both songs are absolutely heartbreakingly good. They finish with “Old Man Chicago” with a plug for their debut album “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” and leave the whole room foot tapping with delight.

It’s 9.15pm now, and I have a difficult decision to make, I want to see the electronic indie of Maps at the Udderbelly, yesterday’s Uncut headliner Jack Penate is playing a second show at the Beach Club, and tipped band Mumm-ra are on at 9.30 down by the sea. Practically, I head for Maps as it’s just across the road from the Red Roaster.

I’ve wanted to come to the Udderbelly since Thursday, assuming it’s an outdoor stage because it’s a giant inflatable purple cow. Alas, no. Once through the Moo Garden with its Moo Bar and Moo Loos, I’m lead up a ramp and into the BELLY of the cow. It’s brilliant inside, and a bit disconcerting. It’s dark, apart from the purple and pink lights in the pseudo-smoke, and it turns out the venue is running behind schedule. New EMI signings Tiny Dancers are still performing, and the singer’s peroxide blonde hair is the giveaway. They play a track called “Ashes And Diamonds” which is a bog standard indie track dressed up with a twang of country. It starts off nice enough, but doesn’t seem to go anywhere. They finish and dismantling their equipment seems to take a very long time. As well as the usual instruments, too many cuddly animal toys and balloons seem to have been used as props.

Nottingham music man Maps I really want to see, but now I’m completely off schedule if I want to see other bands. There’s a lot of keyboards and pedals etc that the band need and I’m getting restless watching everything get plugged in, I’ll just have to skip it and hope that Mumm-ra are running late too. So I dash to Audio, back on Marine Parade.

As expected, it’s a ‘one in one out’ gig, and the bouncers say no, so now I’m off to Kabuki at the farthest end of the seafront. Neil’s Children are on at the venue hosted by Artrocker magazine. The band who don’t consist of anyone called Neil, are playing in the corner of the downstairs of the bar. The bar is packed. And none of us can see anything. Every now and then I glimpse a fringe or their drummer’s fantastically huge black hair style. Good job their music is loud and full of strong guitar riffs. “Another Day” is very thrashy Clash-y and “Window Shopping” is pretty good too. They also play upcoming single “You Didn’t Care”, which apparently former Creation Records owner Alan McGee has described as “the Cure for the now generation.” Not quite sure they sound like the Cure, though. Neil’s Children stickers are stuck to everyone in the room by the time I leave the sweatpit. I have to dash back to the Red Roaster, ‘cos Texan guitarist Micah P Hinson is due on shortly and I’ve been warned it’s going to be busy.

I see some strange road signs on the way; I chuckle at indie band Good Shoes’ “Morden Life Is Rubbish” the first time I see it. The indie band are playing tonight at the Pavilion Theatre, I might have time to get there after Micah. The other is “This way to Cirque Surreal” – turns out to be the Bangkok Lady Boys show in a circus tent that’s been sold out every night this week.

10.26pm. Café is crammed again, right down to the front, the anticipation-charged hush is a strange feeling after just rocking at Kabuki. Micah P Hinson, with his name embroidered on a leather guitar strap, and navy trucker’s cap is joined by musicians Nick Phelps on banjo and Jason Nevilles on drums.

The laidback atmosphere is brilliant. Micah plays acoustic tales of abstract woe, and transports the people in the room to somewhere in the desert wastelands in the old days. He plays a song, “Beneath The Road”, which he says when he first recorded it, came out sounding like a hip-hop record. This gets a massive laugh, and is the beginning of a constant interaction with his audience.

He sings a short, almost ode-like song about having ‘no worries now’ before warming up to playing real twangy country notes on his guitar, with a song inspired by the Carter Family. Micah starts mumbling to the crowd that “the Carter Family practically invented Country & Western music. If you’ve never heard of them, you really should check them out.” His Southern drawl whilst he’s tuning his guitar is amusing as he says, “Oh am I rambling. I do apologise.” The enthralled fans giggle.

He plays an old track, “Digging The Grave”, before he stops to light a cigarette. He smokes using a small black holder and he places it in the side of his mouth. And then he carries on singing the next track. Whilst still puffing smoke. A very bizarre but clever sight. He sounds grittier and more bluesy now.

Alas, the show is about to end, and Micah claims he only has three minutes left to play. ‘Oh No’ shout back the crowd. Bartering goes on between the crowd, Micah and the sound engineer, and eventually it’s agreed that two more songs can be had. Great!

He sings “Leaning Guides” then treats us to a brand new track, that they’ve practised live only once before. “There’s Only One Name” is a really countrified song, with great lyrics, and for the last track of the night – is nicely upbeat. But yes! They’re squeezing in another song for us! More precious time is being lost with Micah lighting a cigarette for Nevilles and himself and still bantering about feeling like ‘the three Stooges’ up there. They then play the brilliantly named song “The Day Texas Sank To The Bottom Of The Sea.”

And that’s it, no more singers or bands on my agenda tonight. It’s 11.20 and there are some Great Escape gigs still not finished and plenty of parties erupting all across Saturday night Brighton. However, I feel far too chilled out from the brilliant musical treats of the Uncut café tonight. I think going to a party at the Ocean Rooms where I hear Razorlight are DJing would just spoil it a little.

Brighton, it’s been a blast.

FARAH ISHAQ

There’s No Escaping The Great Escape

Uncut
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There’s No Escaping The Great Escape

Hello from an incredibly windswept Brighton. Uncut is back for more musical action on the seafront. Feeling rather frazzled from the late night yesterday, I think I have pulled myself together enough to pound the streets for one more night. Tonight I desperately want to see Gallows after missing the dangerous scrum that ensued last night - guitarist Steph Carter had "his head sliced open from his own guitar" after opening track "In The Belly Of A Shark", as his brother and band vocalist Frank so aptly put it. We hear that Steph has been carted (boom tish) off to hospital, and has had five stitches. I want to see him play with what I can only imagine is a very sore head, but alas no, tight timings again mean that there's no way I'll be able to get down to the Zap club in time for kick off at 9 o'clock. The Uncut stage at the Red Roaster is bustling with anticipation tonight, queues are forming well before doors open at 8pm, and for good reason. We are hosting an XL Recordings night - label home to the White Stripes amongst others, and tonight will see the buzz boy of the night Jack Penate headline. Simply everyone in Brighton wants to see him play. We can't wait. The Red Roaster will also see singers Elvis Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, and Kid Harpoon play. But before they do, I have just enough time, according to the festival timetable, to catch some bands down on the beach. The Beach Club is a wicked venue, and obviously usually more akin to hosting raves. And so first things first; the piles of glo-sticks that line the column edges swiftly line the inside of my handbag. The neon multicoloured glow that now emanates means I'll be able to find my pen quickly in any dark venue tonight. A girl's gotta be prepared! And so, attention is diverted slightly by The Midway State, an emotive, piano-led, softly softly rock group hailing from Toronto, Canada. The four-piece have hugely soulful vocals, but the two songs I hear seem lacking in something. The single "Unaware", as heard on US teen soap The O.C., is good but bland. Their set closer "What You Need Is Love" is an '80s style power-ballad with high pitched vocals. But the midtempo-ness of it all is not what we need to kick off the night. We decline the offer of drinks with the band - we are here to see bands, afterall! Next up is Oh No Ono - I know I saw them yesterday. But as they are due on next, I want to hang around, to see if what I witnessed yesterday was actually what they are like! And hang around I do, the longest set-up and testing of mics I have had to endure in quite some time. The bassist is wearing a clown style jester's jacket, and their hair is still big, and they are still very handsome Danish boys, so I wait... The missing lead on the mixing desk is found by glo-stick torchlight and the show is on - the first song is like some kind of futuristic but retro synth pop with Japanese-style wailing vocals. Very bizarre. They then do The Beatles cover again - and in this venue it simply doesn't convey the same. And so to next door, Arc, where Help She Can't Swim are on. The performance area is up a steep flight of stairs and in what can only be described as a tunnel. A long strip of space in a arch, with the band at one end and a rectangular mass of bodies that stretches back into darkness. We squeeze into the back, and can only see the tips of their heads, singer Tom Denney has his dark hair flopped over one eye in traditional punk-style school way. They are halfway through the brilliantly poppy punk track "Ferme La Bouche" and I like it. The energy is radiant and I feel like pogoing, but it's still early. The Brighton band finish on a high with new single "Hospital Drama", and I'm now ready to go see if I can catch a bit of Elvis Perkins. Crossing over the roundabout opposite the Pier, I overhear a festival-goer exclaiming down her mobile that there's no way in to the Red Roaster. Uh oh, better hurry up and go see what the fuss is about. The queue is staggered all the way up the street with people literally attempting to claw their way in. I panic, then realise I have a magic pass that I can wave to get in. The boos are incredible, the girls at the front of the queue hiss 'it's one in one out.' But still I'm in, Kid Harpoon is whipping up the crowd into a well-behaved frenzy. Compared to the hush and quiet of the artists yesterday, today is positively noisy. There are whoops and clapping, in time with a piano romp through real uptempo, saloon style bar tunes. Before sitting down at the "cool as fuck" piano, the from-Medway kid declared that he was once told "people don't want to be annoyed with guitars any more, so I thought fuck it I'll learn to play the piano then". The room erupted with laughter - he's a confident sassy performer and put on a great show. Whilst enjoying the feeling of sitting cross-legged at the front of the room, I'm thinking about the next couple of bands and how to plot my route around with the most efficiency. I work out that I can get up to the Corn Exchange and catch buzz band The Heights, maybe a bit of Art Brut, before going to see hyped rockers Electric City over at Hector's House, possibly swinging by The Ocean Rooms to see Johnny Panic. Walking past the Pavillion, the queue is immense, Willy Mason is playing there in an hour's time, wow that's a long wait for those fans if they get into the venue! I make it to the Corn Exchange, but the band onstage in the cavernously huge place don't resemble the rock outfit I've been led to believe. Not least the fact that they are from Wales, and not Canada, I don't know how I confused that one! I thought they would be a bit rocker than they are, the guitars and music is good, but the songs just don't fill me up. Perhaps it was the venue that was just too big. I'll try and see them another time, they have potential, I think. Pop fact; The Heights have played more Barfly shows around the country than any other band. The Corn Exchange is filling up with Art Brut fans, girls outnumber boys about six to one, bizarre. I go and see what's happening down at the Red Roaster - I have already heard that it's going mental, and that the desire to see Jack Penate is causing fights outside the venue! Not even my magic pass is going to get me into this one. I give it up for a lost cause, safe in the knowledge that Jack's just announced a full UK tour starting next month. I'll catch up with him then. So I trundle off over to Hector's House to see Electric City. The bluesy bar is a brilliant place-warp, I'm suddenly transported to a bar somewhere at South By Southwest, the Texan equivalent of The Great Escape. Pool tables are slung at the back of the dark wooded bar, and the jukebox is pumping out great tracks like "Tutti Frutti." The London four-piece are headlining the Topman New Talent Stage, and the good-looking skinny-jeaned boys take to stage, plug in and just play proper rock riffs with brilliant rock vocals. Think Sabbath meets Kings Of Leon meets Duran Duran meets Muse. And with simultaneous tuning between songs that would make Quo's Rick Parfitt look on proudly. Singer Andy has a voice that crosses eras, it's hard to fathom quite how he does it, he sounds far older than his tender age of 21. They play a short set of six songs to a room filled with music industry types, and even they can feel the rifftastic vibe. Third track "Dark Skies" is pretty proggy but dressed up with pop, like speeded-up Cream. "Devil In My Head," "Siren" and new single "Sleeping With The Enemy" prove that this band are definitely ones to watch. They sound slick, like they've been playing huge concerts and not bars. Did I mention they're incredibly good looking (said in mock Zoolander accent)? They're being hounded by fashion labels, and last night they went to a launch for Armani, hence the beautiful black and white top that bassist Jon is wearing, but apparently when they played at the party, they were told off for being too loud! Really! Fashionistas eh? I attempt to down tools at this point - the night has been long, and I am very tired, and the jukebox is playing some kind of compilation of reggae and soul tunes, feeling relaxed now, and a bottle of beer is thrust in my direction. However just as I'm about to head back down to the media hub bar back at the hotel, I'm convinced that The Airborne Toxic Event are more than worth watching over at Club NME's Komedia home. Touted as a cross between Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand, the LA based five piece include violins and tambourines amongst their multi-tasking instrumentation. Airborne Toxic whatnot are good staple fare, and are indeed very much like Arcade Fire, and some of the tracks are pretty good. The twiddly musical bits are great, the Pixies-style backing vocals nicely eerie, and there are nice stomping pianos in tracks like "Wishing Well" and "Papillon." They even come back on for an encore. The audience is huge, but I think largely because there are very few gigs on this late into the night, a lot of the kids are down at Beach front raves in Brightons neon clubs. I slip away into the fresh air, the night is much cooler than last, and there's a threat of wetness in the air, but luckily the rain has held off - it's meant to be sunny tomorrow - woo hoo! Heard earlier that Yoko Ono is in town? The local paper the Argus said she's down here checking out bands! See what great company we keep. Also heard that despite what I thought was Happy Mondays on particular;y weirdly normal form yesterday, news reaches me that Bez apparently punched a Channel 4 cameraman before the pier party yesterday. He thought Shaun Ryder was setting him up to be late for the gig, and ended with fisticuffs- apparently Bez was frosty with Ryder at the start of the show - I can't say I noticed anything amiss though. Tomorrow seems to be getting closer by the minute - i hope tiredness doesn't kick in too badly - I gotta be up in time for the Cup Final! More bands ahoy tomorrow night. Much looking forward to the Neil Young sounding half-Scandinavians Alberta Cross on at 8.45 at the Uncut cafe. And Palladium and Mumm-Ra are the hot-tips too. If you're in Brighton, come on down. FARAH ISHAQ

Hello from an incredibly windswept Brighton. Uncut is back for more musical action on the seafront. Feeling rather frazzled from the late night yesterday, I think I have pulled myself together enough to pound the streets for one more night.

Tonight I desperately want to see Gallows after missing the dangerous scrum that ensued last night – guitarist Steph Carter had “his head sliced open from his own guitar” after opening track “In The Belly Of A Shark”, as his brother and band vocalist Frank so aptly put it. We hear that Steph has been carted (boom tish) off to hospital, and has had five stitches. I want to see him play with what I can only imagine is a very sore head, but alas no, tight timings again mean that there’s no way I’ll be able to get down to the Zap club in time for kick off at 9 o’clock.

The Uncut stage at the Red Roaster is bustling with anticipation tonight, queues are forming well before doors open at 8pm, and for good reason. We are hosting an XL Recordings night – label home to the White Stripes amongst others, and tonight will see the buzz boy of the night Jack Penate headline. Simply everyone in Brighton wants to see him play. We can’t wait. The Red Roaster will also see singers Elvis Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, and Kid Harpoon play. But before they do, I have just enough time, according to the festival timetable, to catch some bands down on the beach.

The Beach Club is a wicked venue, and obviously usually more akin to hosting raves. And so first things first; the piles of glo-sticks that line the column edges swiftly line the inside of my handbag. The neon multicoloured glow that now emanates means I’ll be able to find my pen quickly in any dark venue tonight. A girl’s gotta be prepared!

And so, attention is diverted slightly by The Midway State, an emotive, piano-led, softly softly rock group hailing from Toronto, Canada. The four-piece have hugely soulful vocals, but the two songs I hear seem lacking in something. The single “Unaware”, as heard on US teen soap The O.C., is good but bland. Their set closer “What You Need Is Love” is an ’80s style power-ballad with high pitched vocals. But the midtempo-ness of it all is not what we need to kick off the night. We decline the offer of drinks with the band – we are here to see bands, afterall!

Next up is Oh No Ono – I know I saw them yesterday. But as they are due on next, I want to hang around, to see if what I witnessed yesterday was actually what they are like! And hang around I do, the longest set-up and testing of mics I have had to endure in quite some time. The bassist is wearing a clown style jester’s jacket, and their hair is still big, and they are still very handsome Danish boys, so I wait…

The missing lead on the mixing desk is found by glo-stick torchlight and the show is on – the first song is like some kind of futuristic but retro synth pop with Japanese-style wailing vocals. Very bizarre. They then do The Beatles cover again – and in this venue it simply doesn’t convey the same. And so to next door, Arc, where Help She Can’t Swim are on.

The performance area is up a steep flight of stairs and in what can only be described as a tunnel. A long strip of space in a arch, with the band at one end and a rectangular mass of bodies that stretches back into darkness.

We squeeze into the back, and can only see the tips of their heads, singer Tom Denney has his dark hair flopped over one eye in traditional punk-style school way. They are halfway through the brilliantly poppy punk track “Ferme La Bouche” and I like it. The energy is radiant and I feel like pogoing, but it’s still early. The Brighton band finish on a high with new single “Hospital Drama”, and I’m now ready to go see if I can catch a bit of Elvis Perkins.

Crossing over the roundabout opposite the Pier, I overhear a festival-goer exclaiming down her mobile that there’s no way in to the Red Roaster. Uh oh, better hurry up and go see what the fuss is about.

The queue is staggered all the way up the street with people literally attempting to claw their way in. I panic, then realise I have a magic pass that I can wave to get in. The boos are incredible, the girls at the front of the queue hiss ‘it’s one in one out.’ But still I’m in, Kid Harpoon is whipping up the crowd into a well-behaved frenzy. Compared to the hush and quiet of the artists yesterday, today is positively noisy. There are whoops and clapping, in time with a piano romp through real uptempo, saloon style bar tunes.

Before sitting down at the “cool as fuck” piano, the from-Medway kid declared that he was once told “people don’t want to be annoyed with guitars any more, so I thought fuck it I’ll learn to play the piano then”. The room erupted with laughter – he’s a confident sassy performer and put on a great show.

Whilst enjoying the feeling of sitting cross-legged at the front of the room, I’m thinking about the next couple of bands and how to plot my route around with the most efficiency. I work out that I can get up to the Corn Exchange and catch buzz band The Heights, maybe a bit of Art Brut, before going to see hyped rockers Electric City over at Hector’s House, possibly swinging by The Ocean Rooms to see Johnny Panic.

Walking past the Pavillion, the queue is immense, Willy Mason is playing there in an hour’s time, wow that’s a long wait for those fans if they get into the venue! I make it to the Corn Exchange, but the band onstage in the cavernously huge place don’t resemble the rock outfit I’ve been led to believe. Not least the fact that they are from Wales, and not Canada, I don’t know how I confused that one! I thought they would be a bit rocker than they are, the guitars and music is good, but the songs just don’t fill me up. Perhaps it was the venue that was just too big. I’ll try and see them another time, they have potential, I think. Pop fact; The Heights have played more Barfly shows around the country than any other band.

The Corn Exchange is filling up with Art Brut fans, girls outnumber boys about six to one, bizarre.

I go and see what’s happening down at the Red Roaster – I have already heard that it’s going mental, and that the desire to see Jack Penate is causing fights outside the venue! Not even my magic pass is going to get me into this one. I give it up for a lost cause, safe in the knowledge that Jack’s just announced a full UK tour starting next month. I’ll catch up with him then.

So I trundle off over to Hector’s House to see Electric City. The bluesy bar is a brilliant place-warp, I’m suddenly transported to a bar somewhere at South By Southwest, the Texan equivalent of The Great Escape. Pool tables are slung at the back of the dark wooded bar, and the jukebox is pumping out great tracks like “Tutti Frutti.”

The London four-piece are headlining the Topman New Talent Stage, and the good-looking skinny-jeaned boys take to stage, plug in and just play proper rock riffs with brilliant rock vocals. Think Sabbath meets Kings Of Leon meets Duran Duran meets Muse. And with simultaneous tuning between songs that would make Quo’s Rick Parfitt look on proudly. Singer Andy has a voice that crosses eras, it’s hard to fathom quite how he does it, he sounds far older than his tender age of 21.

They play a short set of six songs to a room filled with music industry types, and even they can feel the rifftastic vibe. Third track “Dark Skies” is pretty proggy but dressed up with pop, like speeded-up Cream. “Devil In My Head,” “Siren” and new single “Sleeping With The Enemy” prove that this band are definitely ones to watch. They sound slick, like they’ve been playing huge concerts and not bars. Did I mention they’re incredibly good looking (said in mock Zoolander accent)? They’re being hounded by fashion labels, and last night they went to a launch for Armani, hence the beautiful black and white top that bassist Jon is wearing, but apparently when they played at the party, they were told off for being too loud! Really! Fashionistas eh?

I attempt to down tools at this point – the night has been long, and I am very tired, and the jukebox is playing some kind of compilation of reggae and soul tunes, feeling relaxed now, and a bottle of beer is thrust in my direction. However just as I’m about to head back down to the media hub bar back at the hotel, I’m convinced that The Airborne Toxic Event are more than worth watching over at Club NME’s Komedia home.

Touted as a cross between Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand, the LA based five piece include violins and tambourines amongst their multi-tasking instrumentation. Airborne Toxic whatnot are good staple fare, and are indeed very much like Arcade Fire, and some of the tracks are pretty good. The twiddly musical bits are great, the Pixies-style backing vocals nicely eerie, and there are nice stomping pianos in tracks like “Wishing Well” and “Papillon.” They even come back on for an encore.

The audience is huge, but I think largely because there are very few gigs on this late into the night, a lot of the kids are down at Beach front raves in Brightons neon clubs. I slip away into the fresh air, the night is much cooler than last, and there’s a threat of wetness in the air, but luckily the rain has held off – it’s meant to be sunny tomorrow – woo hoo!

Heard earlier that Yoko Ono is in town? The local paper the Argus said she’s down here checking out bands! See what great company we keep. Also heard that despite what I thought was Happy Mondays on particular;y weirdly normal form yesterday, news reaches me that Bez apparently punched a Channel 4 cameraman before the pier party yesterday. He thought Shaun Ryder was setting him up to be late for the gig, and ended with fisticuffs- apparently Bez was frosty with Ryder at the start of the show – I can’t say I noticed anything amiss though.

Tomorrow seems to be getting closer by the minute – i hope tiredness doesn’t kick in too badly – I gotta be up in time for the Cup Final! More bands ahoy tomorrow night.

Much looking forward to the Neil Young sounding half-Scandinavians Alberta Cross on at 8.45 at the Uncut cafe. And Palladium and Mumm-Ra are the hot-tips too. If you’re in Brighton, come on down.

FARAH ISHAQ

Happy Mondays Step On Brighton Pier

Uncut
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Happy Mondays Step On Brighton Pier

Leaving a wet and dreary London, Uncut sets off to Brighton to find an incredibly surprisingly sunny seaside town, calmly awaiting the incoming music storm that is 2007's Great Escape Festival. The south coast town's attempt at staging a 'music export' convention - showcasing the best new music around - will see 150 bands playing across 20 venues, plus impromptu acoustic sessions sprouting up all over the place by new artists and special guests. All we need is an all-inclusive neon pink wristband and we're in. The opening night's buzz is that the Happy Mondays will be playing a party at the end of the pier, showcasing new material and hopefully dancing through the hits. The other big buzz is a Club NME show by The Gallows, the most controversial new rock band straight out of Watford. The only problem is they're not on 'till 1am and we've been advised to get there by 11 if we want to get into the venue - better get a move on - there's a lot of ground to cover before we can get there. First up, we check out the Uncut venue - Uncut is hosting three nights at the Red Roaster Cafe, marking our debut year with a presence at the festival. Tonight will see singer-songwriters Kate Walsh, Jersey Budd, Findlay Brown and Aussie brother and sister duo Angus & Julia Stone perform in the laid-back coffee shop surroundings. We leave the venue as the queue builds for opener Jersey Budd, to check out the early bands down at Audio, where the Barfly promoters have got The 1990s playing. However the queue is already a 'one in one out' system and we haven't got time to hang about. Head to the Ocean Rooms, a fantastically confusing venue with a massive Blondie pop art painting above the front door with the slogan "Get Up" - we catch Hertfordshire band Look See Proof play jangly plain indie - their closing song and single "Start Again" is OK if only just that. Upstairs is far better, where Danish five-piece Oh No Ono are concocting a funky psychedelic storm. They have huge hair and huger grins, and track "Practical Money Skills" causes much whirling funky dancing from the incredibly sweaty room that have gathered. They end on a brave but perfectly executed version of "a song from Great Britain" - a pitch-perfect cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." A great set closer, but now desperate to get some fresh air, and maybe a beer. This running up and down the streets of Brighton is thirsty work. Its still daylight, amazing. Walking back down past the big giant upside down purple cow stage, aptly named the Udderbelly stage, we kick ourselves - we've just missed a T-Mobile surprise 'street gig'. The Gossip have just ended a set and hordes of grinning sweaty indie guys and gals are spilling out into the streets clutching goodie bags and looking at their Great Escape maps looking for the next music fix. We hear a rumour that the Scissor Sisters will be the next surprise band on - hoping that's true - they'd be perfect on a balmy evening like this. Pop back to the Red Roaster, and catch the opening songs by Angus & Julia Stone. Compared to the madness outside, the hush and quiet of the cafe is startling. Fragile, beautiful songs with the bare minimum of strings and drum beats. Heartbreaking songs, but my heart is still racing so need to get out and attempt to break in to the Happy Mondays showcase on the pier. 9.57pm and the Mondays are due on in three minutes - Uncut is hoping that Shaun Ryder doesn't break the habit of a lifetime and is a few minutes late - but no joy! The Mondays appear to have been cloned and replaced by a band that are definitely not a shambles at all! We make it in time for the opening sirens - they are here to showcase material from their new album "Uncle Dysfunktional" - their first in 14 years. And the songs are amazing - tuneful, dancey, silly lyrics but you don't care. "Jelly Bean" is especially brilliant - with the crowd singing along, waving their baggy-era hats in the hair. Ryder and co also don't dare disappoint the 200-capacity Horatio's Bar by playing brilliant versions of hits "Loose Fit", "Kinky Afro" and "Rev Black Grape" too. Ryder proclaimed before the show that if "anyone didn't like the new stuff, he'd chuck them in the sea". I can't see that being a problem tonight; swimming seems a good idea, considering how hot it is in the tiny disco-ball dressed bar on the pier. I leave the Baggy boys to it before the end to make a mad dash back to the Red Roaster - Uncut hears that the diminutive singer Kate Walsh is going down a storm as the night's closing performer. We squeeze into the cafe to find the crowd sitting crosslegged on the floor right up to the performance space at the front. Everyone looks completely mesmerised, floating on Kate's pure and stunning vocals. Set closer "Your Song" is simply brilliant. Apparently Kate has a very sore throat, she had to cancel a gig earlier in the evening due to illness - but if what Uncut witnesses is the sound of illness, we can only imagine what she sounds like when she's healthy. Uncut is knackered now, and we hear that Gallows over at the Komedia is already oversubscribed, so we take our leave to sit on the beach eating proper seaside chips, watching festival-goers who've had a long evening out attempt to go skinny-dipping in the icy waters. We'll be back tomorrow for what will be another top night of musical adventure on the streets of Brigho - as the locals might call it. Uncut is hosting an XL Recordings night with Elvis Perkins, Kid Harpoon and Jamie T-esque Jack Penate all doing their thing in the Red Roaster. Elsewhere we'll try and catch up with Canadian's The Heights, who are meant to be fantastic, and Air Traffic. The Gallows are also playing again, at the more Uncut-friendly time of 9.30, so hopefully we'll catch them this time, and Friendly Fires might be worth a shot too - we have a craving for some glo-stick fun. FARAH ISHAQ

Leaving a wet and dreary London, Uncut sets off to Brighton to find an incredibly surprisingly sunny seaside town, calmly awaiting the incoming music storm that is 2007’s Great Escape Festival.

The south coast town’s attempt at staging a ‘music export’ convention – showcasing the best new music around – will see 150 bands playing across 20 venues, plus impromptu acoustic sessions sprouting up all over the place by new artists and special guests. All we need is an all-inclusive neon pink wristband and we’re in.

The opening night’s buzz is that the Happy Mondays will be playing a party at the end of the pier, showcasing new material and hopefully dancing through the hits. The other big buzz is a Club NME show by The Gallows, the most controversial new rock band straight out of Watford. The only problem is they’re not on ’till 1am and we’ve been advised to get there by 11 if we want to get into the venue – better get a move on – there’s a lot of ground to cover before we can get there.

First up, we check out the Uncut venue – Uncut is hosting three nights at the Red Roaster Cafe, marking our debut year with a presence at the festival. Tonight will see singer-songwriters Kate Walsh, Jersey Budd, Findlay Brown and Aussie brother and sister duo Angus & Julia Stone perform in the laid-back coffee shop surroundings.

We leave the venue as the queue builds for opener Jersey Budd, to check out the early bands down at Audio, where the Barfly promoters have got The 1990s playing. However the queue is already a ‘one in one out’ system and we haven’t got time to hang about.

Head to the Ocean Rooms, a fantastically confusing venue with a massive Blondie pop art painting above the front door with the slogan “Get Up” – we catch Hertfordshire band Look See Proof play jangly plain indie – their closing song and single “Start Again” is OK if only just that. Upstairs is far better, where Danish five-piece Oh No Ono are concocting a funky psychedelic storm. They have huge hair and huger grins, and track “Practical Money Skills” causes much whirling funky dancing from the incredibly sweaty room that have gathered. They end on a brave but perfectly executed version of “a song from Great Britain” – a pitch-perfect cover of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows.” A great set closer, but now desperate to get some fresh air, and maybe a beer. This running up and down the streets of Brighton is thirsty work.

Its still daylight, amazing. Walking back down past the big giant upside down purple cow stage, aptly named the Udderbelly stage, we kick ourselves – we’ve just missed a T-Mobile surprise ‘street gig’. The Gossip have just ended a set and hordes of grinning sweaty indie guys and gals are spilling out into the streets clutching goodie bags and looking at their Great Escape maps looking for the next music fix. We hear a rumour that the Scissor Sisters will be the next surprise band on – hoping that’s true – they’d be perfect on a balmy evening like this.

Pop back to the Red Roaster, and catch the opening songs by Angus & Julia Stone. Compared to the madness outside, the hush and quiet of the cafe is startling. Fragile, beautiful songs with the bare minimum of strings and drum beats. Heartbreaking songs, but my heart is still racing so need to get out and attempt to break in to the Happy Mondays showcase on the pier.

9.57pm and the Mondays are due on in three minutes – Uncut is hoping that Shaun Ryder doesn’t break the habit of a lifetime and is a few minutes late – but no joy! The Mondays appear to have been cloned and replaced by a band that are definitely not a shambles at all! We make it in time for the opening sirens – they are here to showcase material from their new album “Uncle Dysfunktional” – their first in 14 years. And the songs are amazing – tuneful, dancey, silly lyrics but you don’t care. “Jelly Bean” is especially brilliant – with the crowd singing along, waving their baggy-era hats in the hair.

Ryder and co also don’t dare disappoint the 200-capacity Horatio’s Bar by playing brilliant versions of hits “Loose Fit”, “Kinky Afro” and “Rev Black Grape” too.

Ryder proclaimed before the show that if “anyone didn’t like the new stuff, he’d chuck them in the sea”. I can’t see that being a problem tonight; swimming seems a good idea, considering how hot it is in the tiny disco-ball dressed bar on the pier.

I leave the Baggy boys to it before the end to make a mad dash back to the Red Roaster – Uncut hears that the diminutive singer Kate Walsh is going down a storm as the night’s closing performer. We squeeze into the cafe to find the crowd sitting crosslegged on the floor right up to the performance space at the front. Everyone looks completely mesmerised, floating on Kate’s pure and stunning vocals. Set closer “Your Song” is simply brilliant. Apparently Kate has a very sore throat, she had to cancel a gig earlier in the evening due to illness – but if what Uncut witnesses is the sound of illness, we can only imagine what she sounds like when she’s healthy.

Uncut is knackered now, and we hear that Gallows over at the Komedia is already oversubscribed, so we take our leave to sit on the beach eating proper seaside chips, watching festival-goers who’ve had a long evening out attempt to go skinny-dipping in the icy waters.

We’ll be back tomorrow for what will be another top night of musical adventure on the streets of Brigho – as the locals might call it. Uncut is hosting an XL Recordings night with Elvis Perkins, Kid Harpoon and Jamie T-esque Jack Penate all doing their thing in the Red Roaster.

Elsewhere we’ll try and catch up with Canadian’s The Heights, who are meant to be fantastic, and Air Traffic. The Gallows are also playing again, at the more Uncut-friendly time of 9.30, so hopefully we’ll catch them this time, and Friendly Fires might be worth a shot too – we have a craving for some glo-stick fun.

FARAH ISHAQ

Ozzy Osbourne Gets Birmingham Star

Uncut
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0
Ozzy Osbourne Gets Birmingham Star

Veteran prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne is to be honoured with the first star on Birmingham city's new Walk Of Fame on Broad Street on July 6. The singer's induction will be on the same day he plays a hometown show at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena, part of his biggest solo European tour ever. Ozzy has already been inducted in a Walk Of Fame Before, he was honoured with a star on Hollywood's version in 2002. However, being given the Brum star makes Ozzy far happier. He commented: “I have a star in Hollywood on their Walk of Fame but having a Star in my home town means so much more to me. A personal thanks goes out to Lord Mayor Randal Brew.” The Birmingham Walk of Stars will honour those people who have made a significant contribution in the categories of music, television, film, radio, theatre, sport and literacy. Future stars are likely to be given to comedian Jasper Carrot and actress Julie Walters. The public are now being asked to get involved and to nominate and vote for the stars they would like to see honoured, Nominate your choices here at walkofstars.co.uk Uncut would like Dexy's Midnight Runners front man Kevin Rowland to not be forgotten!

Veteran prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne is to be honoured with the first star on Birmingham city’s new Walk Of Fame on Broad Street on July 6.

The singer’s induction will be on the same day he plays a hometown show at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, part of his biggest solo European tour ever.

Ozzy has already been inducted in a Walk Of Fame Before, he was honoured with a star on Hollywood’s version in 2002. However, being given the Brum star makes Ozzy far happier. He commented: “I have a star in Hollywood on their Walk of Fame but having a Star in my home town means so much more to me. A personal thanks goes out to Lord Mayor Randal Brew.”

The Birmingham Walk of Stars will honour those people who have made a significant contribution in the categories of music, television, film, radio, theatre, sport and literacy.

Future stars are likely to be given to comedian Jasper Carrot and actress Julie Walters.

The public are now being asked to get involved and to nominate and vote for the stars they would like to see honoured,

Nominate your choices here at walkofstars.co.uk

Uncut would like Dexy’s Midnight Runners front man Kevin Rowland to not be forgotten!

The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zeitgeist”

John Mulvey
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Billy Corgan is not an easy man to like, but from time to time in his career he's made some pretty good records. I should make it clear from the start that I'm hardly a Smashing Pumpkins obsessive: I liked the psych-grunge of "Gish" a lot, and I was distinctly impressed by the translation of ambitio...

Billy Corgan is not an easy man to like, but from time to time in his career he’s made some pretty good records. I should make it clear from the start that I’m hardly a Smashing Pumpkins obsessive: I liked the psych-grunge of “Gish” a lot, and I was distinctly impressed by the translation of ambition into a new kind of stadium rock on “Siamese Dream”.

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The Thrills Added To Knowsley Hall Event

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The Thrills Added To Knowsley Hall Event

West Coast influenced Irish group The Thrills are one of the latest artists to be confirmed for the Uncut-sponsored Knowsley Hall music festival. The event, the biggest of its kind in the North West, runs over two days, June 23 and 24, the same weekend as Glastonbury and is headlined by The Who and Keane, as well featuring a host of other big acts. The Thrills have just completed recording their third album "Teenager," and will be previewing new material at the Liverpool show, as well as playing songs from their million selling back catalogue. Local Radio 1 championed band The Wombats have also been added to the line-up. The Knowsley Hall bill includes several bands that hail from Liverpool including Shack, The Coral, The Zutons and Icicle Works. Day tickets start from £37.50 and weekend tickets are £70. More details about the line-up and tickets are available here from knowsleyhallmusicfestival.co.uk The full line-up confirmed so far is: Saturday June 23 Main Stage The Who /The Coral / The View/ The Thrills / Shack / Pete Wylie & The Mighty Wah MySpace Stage The Black Velvets/ The Loungs / The Alones / The Maybes / Miss King & The Kougars / The Quarter / Delta Fiasco/ Battle Of The Bands Winner Sunday June 24 Main Stage Keane / The Zutons/ Madness / Joss Stone / Ross Copperman / The Icicle Works/ The Wombats / The Orange Lights MySpace Candie Payne / The Aeroplanes / I Am Finn / Battle Of The Bands Winner

West Coast influenced Irish group The Thrills are one of the latest artists to be confirmed for the Uncut-sponsored Knowsley Hall music festival.

The event, the biggest of its kind in the North West, runs over two days, June 23 and 24, the same weekend as Glastonbury and is headlined by The Who and Keane, as well featuring a host of other big acts.

The Thrills have just completed recording their third album “Teenager,” and will be previewing new material at the Liverpool show, as well as playing songs from their million selling back catalogue.

Local Radio 1 championed band The Wombats have also been added to the line-up. The Knowsley Hall bill includes several bands that hail from Liverpool including Shack, The Coral, The Zutons and Icicle Works.

Day tickets start from £37.50 and weekend tickets are £70.

More details about the line-up and tickets are available here from knowsleyhallmusicfestival.co.uk

The full line-up confirmed so far is:

Saturday June 23

Main Stage

The Who /The Coral / The View/ The Thrills / Shack / Pete Wylie & The Mighty Wah

MySpace Stage

The Black Velvets/ The Loungs / The Alones / The Maybes / Miss King & The Kougars / The Quarter / Delta Fiasco/ Battle Of The Bands Winner

Sunday June 24

Main Stage

Keane / The Zutons/ Madness / Joss Stone / Ross Copperman / The Icicle Works/ The Wombats / The Orange Lights

MySpace

Candie Payne / The Aeroplanes / I Am Finn / Battle Of The Bands Winner

The Beastie Boys’ “The Mix-Up”

John Mulvey
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We're partying like it's 1994 here at Uncut this afternoon, because the new Beastie Boys album has arrived. It's called "The Mix-Up", and we're just grooving amiably to track seven, "Off The Grid". Actually, "Off The Grid" has just stepped up a grade and now sounds rather hefty, by the standards of this record so far. The good news about "The Mix-Up" is that it seems to be a big improvement on the last Beasties album, 2004's "To The Five Boroughs": if you remember, a stiff and uncomfortably worthy attempt to honour the precepts of early hip-hop. The bad news about "The Mix-Up", though, is that it's an all-instrumental album. At their best, Beasties albums have always felt like a slightly crazed mix'n'match: that sense of a band of hip dilettantes who'll get bored of straight hip-hop after ten minutes and work out their tensions with some bratty hardcore punk, then chill out with a bit of burbling jazz-funk. "The Mix-Up", like "To The 5 Boroughs", is not an eclectic record. Instead, it consists of 12 workouts, often led by Money Mark at the organ, which locate mellow, goatee-stroking grooves that were probably first traversed 30 or 40 years ago by The Meters. They're jams, I guess, though not quite so sloppy and loose as the ones - in very much the same style - which provided interludes on "Check Your Head" and "Ill Communications". "Suco De Tangerina" chucks a bit of dub into the mix. One song title - "Freaky Hijiki" - has the obligatory healthfood (in this case a quite nice seaweed) reference. And they're extremely pleasant tunes, being the work of three guys of a certain age and their mates, who've reached an unexpected level of technical competence, want to kick back in the rehearsal room, and clearly feel they have nothing to prove to anyone any more. There's an endearing warmth to tracks like "14th St Break", even when the Beasties are aping that '70s blaxploitation funk. I guess I was prepared to be disappointed by this record, and, even though it sounds a bit dated and self-indulgent, it's a lot more enjoyable than I expected. I'll try and write something more on it when I've listened to it properly. Still, though, should the Beasties really settle for this, when they can do so much more?

We’re partying like it’s 1994 here at Uncut this afternoon, because the new Beastie Boys album has arrived. It’s called “The Mix-Up”, and we’re just grooving amiably to track seven, “Off The Grid”.

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Picking A Fight With Jeff Tweedy

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“I can’t for the life of me understand how 50-year-old rock critics can pretend to like Babyshambles,” thunders Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in the current issue of Uncut. “It just drives me nuts,” he goes on, building up a fairly impressive head of indignant steam. “I’m like: ‘How can you pretend to like that? What the fuck, are you serious?’ There’s now way,” he continues, not done yet. “You can’t – you have to be young. You have to be that age to do that, because you should know better by now?” Hey, really, Jeff? Well, thanks for sharing that with us. I don’t want to sound too sensitive here, and I’m absolutely sure Jeff doesn’t keep such close tabs on stuff I write to know how much Babyshambles mean to me – even at my advanced age, decrepitude and drool obviously now a messy part of my life as the sun sinks on what’s left of it – so perhaps I should also be careful about taking any of this personally. But what Jeff has to say – them’s fighting words, man. Over the last 14 months or so, I’ve seen Pete solo and Babyshambles in full-on band mode maybe 10 times, or almost once a month and I haven’t had to PRETEND on a single occasion that I’ve enjoyed them, I just have. So, yes, I guess I must be fucking serious about them. And I don’t listen to the staggeringly misrepresented Down In Albion or go to see them as often as I can in some ghastly attempt to recapture some fading aspect of youth, my own or anybody else’s. I listen to them because this is the kind of rock’n’roll I’ve always loved – rowdy, lyrical, ramshackle, euphoric, heartbreaking, brutal, beautiful, every so often unhinged, troubled, redemptive and always exciting and unpredictable. I have tons of time for Tweedy and the music he makes with Wilco, hence their serial appearances in Uncut where they have a lot of fans. But I’d have to say that great Babyshambles tracks like “Fuck Forever”, “Pipedown”, “Killamangiro”, “Eight Dead Boys”, “What Katie Did Next”, “Loyalty Song”, “Up The Morning” and “Merry Go Round” mean as much – probably more – to me than anything Wilco have done. And live, Babyshambles are increasingly amazing, inciting scenes of joyous rapture perhaps alien to Jeff, whose audience generally tend to be a bit more on the chin-stroking side, a lot less combustible than the rabid hordes who adore Pete and let him know it, loudly. What would Jeff prefer people like me – the mature Pete fan, that is, and there are a lot of us – to listen to? Would he think it more decorous if I meekly succumbed to the exasperating worthiness of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible instead of the noisy exhilaration of Down In Albion or the biting clatter, for instance, of Favourite Worst Nightmare, The Arctic Monkeys presumably also being off limits? It’s not going to fucking happen, Jeff. Don’t even think about it.

“I can’t for the life of me understand how 50-year-old rock critics can pretend to like Babyshambles,” thunders Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in the current issue of Uncut.

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Sly Stone Brings The Family Stone To Europe

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Sly Stone Brings The Family Stone To Europe

Sly Stone is to join the Family Stone for their first European tour in over twenty years. The funk group are to play a one-off date in the UK - at the unlikely venue of The Opera House in Bournemouth on England's South Coast. The show on July 28 will be Sly's first show with the family in Britain since 1987. The reclusive musical genius has made very few appearances in the last few years, though he did join the group for a very short performance at last year's Grammy Awards. Sly Stone joins original family members, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, and sister Vet Stone on the nine-date European tour. The full line-up reported by the Guardian newspaper includes: Lisa Stone, Skyler Jett, Anthony Yates, Joseph Yates, Stefon Dubose, Mike Rinta, Johnnie Bamont, Tony Stead, Alfia Fisher and Funn Robertson. See Sly at the following events and shows this July: Umbria Jazz - Umbria, Perugia, Italy (12) Montreux Jazz Festival - Montreux, Switzerland (13) Blue Note Festival - Gent, Belgium (14) North Sea Jazz Festival - Rotterdam, Holland (15) Nice Jazz - Nice, France (19) Pori Jazz festival - Pori, Finland (20) Olympia Hall - Paris, France (23) Jazzaldia - San Sebastian, Spain (27) Opera House, Bournemouth Opera House (28) Tickets for all venues are on sale now.

Sly Stone is to join the Family Stone for their first European tour in over twenty years.

The funk group are to play a one-off date in the UK – at the unlikely venue of The Opera House in Bournemouth on England’s South Coast.

The show on July 28 will be Sly’s first show with the family in Britain since 1987.

The reclusive musical genius has made very few appearances in the last few years, though he did join the group for a very short performance at last year’s Grammy Awards.

Sly Stone joins original family members, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, and sister Vet Stone on the nine-date European tour.

The full line-up reported by the Guardian newspaper includes: Lisa Stone, Skyler Jett, Anthony Yates, Joseph Yates, Stefon Dubose, Mike Rinta, Johnnie Bamont, Tony Stead, Alfia Fisher and Funn Robertson.

See Sly at the following events and shows this July:

Umbria Jazz – Umbria, Perugia, Italy (12)

Montreux Jazz Festival – Montreux, Switzerland (13)

Blue Note Festival – Gent, Belgium (14)

North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Holland (15)

Nice Jazz – Nice, France (19)

Pori Jazz festival – Pori, Finland (20)

Olympia Hall – Paris, France (23)

Jazzaldia – San Sebastian, Spain (27)

Opera House, Bournemouth Opera House (28)

Tickets for all venues are on sale now.

Raccoo-oo-oon, The Go! Team and more chinstroking about Justice, Dubstep etc

John Mulvey
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A nice post from Tunetribe about yesterday's blog on Justice. Not least because he/she seems to have picked some sense out of my gibberish. "Odd that dance music is so prone to excessive analysis though," they write. "Isn't all that discursive net babble about Dubstep a little wearing? At least this sort of stuff [Justice], achingly hip as it may currently be, is meant to be fun." It's an interesting point. My suspicion is that dance music lends itself to theorising for two reasons: one,the artists often lack the sort of backstory or self-aggrandising profile that gives journalists something to write about other than the music - or, at best, that places the music in a marketable context. My second hunch is that dance music, thanks to its notional futurism and its frequent lack of subtext, often attracts writers who are interested in constructing a progressive agenda which can accommodate a bunch of records they like at the time. This seems particularly true of dubstep, which is something I've never quite developed a taste for, in spite of many friends proselytising about stuff like the Burial album. It strikes me that this is music which is gagging to be theorised about: lots of urban dystopia, grimy Ballardian futurism, a potentially intriguing mixture of dancefloor codes and morbid alienation etc. But to be honest, it all seems a bit corny and obvious to me, reminiscent of those studiously bleak "Isolationist" comps from the early '90s, when someone (Kevin Martin from Techno Animal, if memory serves) worked out that the paranoia-inducing aspects of dopesmoking could be aligned to dub. Anyway, this is Burial's Myspace, so have a listen and let me know what you think. Onto today's favourite tunes. I'm just into the third play of the day of the new album by Raccoo-oo-oon, which is a thoroughly bracing 40 minutes of Iowa City noiseniks enacting some kind of prankish tribal rituals. "Behold Secret Kingdom" is a wayward and splattery racket that infrequently resembles "Funhouse" Stooges (a saxophone is involved) running naked through some woods and hitting each other with sticks. It has tunes of a sort, though, and is a lot more accessible than other noise-based stuff from the New Weird America psych scene (like the Magik Markers, I guess) because, as my colleague John Robinson, put it, "They're Raccoo-oo-oon, and they're rocky." In other words, they're not just avant-garde cacophony jockeys, they're exhilarating punks, too. Finally, a quick mention for the impressively jolly new Go! Team single, "Grip Like A Vice", which proves me wrong when I thought their '80s rap/riot grrl/garage rock/big beat hybrid would only work for a single album. Great version of Sonic Youth's "Bull In The Heather", too.

A nice post from Tunetribe about yesterday’s blog on Justice. Not least because he/she seems to have picked some sense out of my gibberish.

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Gruff Rhys Amongst Latest Additions For Latitude

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Gruff Rhys Amongst Latest Additions For Latitude
More artists have been added to the music line-up for this year's Uncut-sponsored Latitude festival in July. The four day muisc and arts festival that takes place at Henham Park in Suffolk from July 12 - 15, will now see performances from the likes of Turin Brakes, Hot Club De Paris, Super 'solo'...

More artists have been added to the music line-up for this year’s Uncut-sponsored Latitude festival in July.

The four day muisc and arts festival that takes place at Henham Park in Suffolk from July 12 – 15, will now see performances from the likes of Turin Brakes, Hot Club De Paris, Super ‘solo’ Furry Animal Gruff Rhys and Soulsavers with Mark Lanegan.

The Uncut stage has new additions to the bill including Aqualung and EMI’s new West London pop signings Grace. The bands join the Gotan Project and Patrick Wolf.

Previously confirmed headliners on the Uncut stage, Explosions In The Sky, have unfortunately had to cancel their entire European touring schedule due to family illness. A very special replacement headliner will be announced on Monday – rest assured they are a sheer Uncut favourite!

Main stage headliners at this year’s festival, now in it’s second year are the Arcade Fire, The Good, The Bad And The Queen and Damien Rice.

Other artists confirmed to play also include Jarvis, Midlake, Wilco, and Tinariwen.

The festival, billing itself as the alternative to Glastonbury will also host a wide and diverse array of music, film, comedy and theatre areas across the four-day event.

Weekend tickets cost £112, day tickets are £45.

The latest music announcements are listed here:

Obelisk Stage
Friday
HOT CLUB de PARIS

Sunday
ANDREW BIRD

Uncut Stage
Friday
AQUALUNG
SONIC HEARTS
GRACE

Saturday
TURIN BRAKES
RICKIE LEE JONES
SCOTT MATTHEWS
JULIAN VELARD
SATIN PEACHES

Sunday
SOULSAVERS
GRUFF RHYS
THE DEARS
RA RA RIOT
THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND

Sunrise Stage
Friday
NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB
RUARI JOSEPH

Saturday
TERRA NAOMI
JEREMY WARMSLEY
MAKE MODEL
PASSENGERS
GET WELL SOON
ANDY GOWER

Sunday
HOWLING BELLS
FINAL FANTASY
THE LEA SHORES
HOW I BECAME A BOMB
HELLO SAFERIDE
PARIS MOTEL

Justice, weird ’80s nostalgia, blog house and so on

John Mulvey
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I am, I must confess, a bit unclear about what exactly is meant by the very hip term blog house. I've a hunch that it refers to dance music whose success is driven by online theorists rather than exposure in clubs. But to be honest, I've a bit of a dilettante attitude to the dance scene these days: much as I try to keep up to speed with as much music as I can, I think I'm missing a lot of this stuff. Which means, I suspect, that the debut album by Justice is probably seen as a bit passe by the hardcore bloggers. For me, though, it sounds great. If you don't recognise the name, there's a fair chance you've heard at least one track involving this French duo: their remix of Simian's "We Are Your Friends" has been maybe the most ubiquitous party tune of the past three years. And a pretty ubiquitous soundbed on the TV, if you don't get out as much as you used to. Anyway, Justice's debut album seems to be called "†" (I know, but give them a chance). It's not exactly the future of music, as far as I can second-guess these things, but it is a fairly exhilarating update of that filtered house sound that came barrelling out of France in the late '90s. In fact, "†" (I've impressed myself by working out how to do that symbol, by the way) would have sounded great if it had been the second album by Daft Punk. It has the same kind of deadpan intensity, the '80s fixation, and the ingenuous spirit which teeters precariously close to kitsch, but usually steers clear of it. A case in point is the current single, "D.A.N.C.E", which matches up a children's choir with some fairly gymnastic house and a few glittery disco swishes which echo Chic. It's cute, it's very nearly naff, but it also has a steely dance imperative which adds momentum rather than whimsy. Someone in the office (Phil or Mark, I think) spotted some John Carpenter sounds here, and it was definitely Mark who reckoned that the jabbering, super-intense "Stress" is built on a Herrmann-ish string sample of David Shire's "Night On Disco Mountain" from "Saturday Night Fever". It was me, shamefully, who detected the influence of Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters" theme on "DVNO". A lot of '80s revivalism turns my stomach, to be honest, but there's something about Justice that makes me excuse their penchant for some ridiculous synth patches. Perhaps it's that ingenuousness, however studied it might be: I guess an evocation of playgrounds resonates more with my memories of the early '80s than the glamorous and debauched nightclub references that often stud '80s throwback records. But then that makes me guilty of that kneejerk childhood nostalgia which I usually abhor, especially that weird nostalgia for the sort of music you never liked at the time. It was all Echo & The Bunnymen, Aztec Camera, stentorian pieces in NME about African music and not much fun in North Nottinghamshire when I was growing up. I am chronically overthinking all this, of course, and a certain anxiety about liking certain aspects of Justice is probably what defines them as blog house. What should I say? It's a really entertaining record, and one which makes me think - along with the Simian Mobile Disco album, that we might finally have some successors to the knackered old stadium techno acts like The Chemical Brothers (Bits of the solo debut by Orbital's Paul Hartnoll are OK, incidentally: he's really living out his John Barry fantasies this time). I'll tell you one thing about the Justice album, though. All that '80s angst notwithstanding, the Mark King-style bass solo at the end of "DVNO" really is a bit much.

I am, I must confess, a bit unclear about what exactly is meant by the very hip term blog house. I’ve a hunch that it refers to dance music whose success is driven by online theorists rather than exposure in clubs. But to be honest, I’ve a bit of a dilettante attitude to the dance scene these days: much as I try to keep up to speed with as much music as I can, I think I’m missing a lot of this stuff.

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McCartney Back Catalogue Goes Digital

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McCartney Back Catalogue Goes Digital

Paul McCartney's record label Parlophone, part of the EMI group, has confirmed that they will be releasing his entire back catalogue across digital platforms, as well as the traditional physical formats. Records from the former Beatle's first solo album "McCartney" through his Wings era to his new album "Memory Almost Full" will now be made available digitally for the first time ever. The McCartney digital campaign could possibly signal that the much-hyped idea of the Beatles back catalogue being made available in this way could soon come to fruition. Tony Wadsworth, chairman of EMI Music UK said, “Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles catalogue, spanning four decades, is one of the great treasures of popular music. EMI is proud to be introducing Paul’s music to the digital marketplace.” Having recently received an Classical Brit Award for his album "Ecce Cor Meum", McCartney will release his new album "Memory Almost Full" on June 4. Check out the latest issue of Uncut for an exclusive interview with McCartney - see what it was like being part of Wings, and how it was an impossible task to try and follow the Beatles.

Paul McCartney’s record label Parlophone, part of the EMI group, has confirmed that they will be releasing his entire back catalogue across digital platforms, as well as the traditional physical formats.

Records from the former Beatle’s first solo album “McCartney” through his Wings era to his new album “Memory Almost Full” will now be made available digitally for the first time ever.

The McCartney digital campaign could possibly signal that the much-hyped idea of the Beatles back catalogue being made available in this way could soon come to fruition.

Tony Wadsworth, chairman of EMI Music UK said, “Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles catalogue, spanning four decades, is one of the great treasures of popular music. EMI is proud to be introducing Paul’s music to the digital marketplace.”

Having recently received an Classical Brit Award for his album “Ecce Cor Meum”, McCartney will release his new album “Memory Almost Full” on June 4.

Check out the latest issue of Uncut for an exclusive interview with McCartney – see what it was like being part of Wings, and how it was an impossible task to try and follow the Beatles.

The Unquiet Dead

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The Unquiet Dead
"The sequel that Danny and I should do is obviously Porno," producer Andrew Macdonald tells Uncut, referring to the Trainspotting follow-up that he and director Danny Boyle are asked about with a frequency bordering on national obsession. "And nobody else could direct that /except/ Danny." 28 Weeks...

“The sequel that Danny and I should do is obviously Porno,” producer Andrew Macdonald tells Uncut, referring to the Trainspotting follow-up that he and director Danny Boyle are asked about with a frequency bordering on national obsession. “And nobody else could direct that /except/ Danny.”
28 Weeks Later, however, is a different matter.

The sequel to 2002’s viral-nightmare horror 28 Days Later is directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, a Spanish filmmaker with one credit to his name (though an extremely good one, the destiny-themed thriller Intacto) who Boyle hand-picked as his replacement. “Danny’s line has always been that to have a successful business in this country, you need to embrace sequels,” says Macdonald.

Although none of the original cast return; the blood-hopping virus that spawns acute anger management issues does. “I tried to persuade [28 Days Later star] Cillian Murphy to come back as an Infected, but he wouldn’t,” Macdonald laughs, adding that Boyle never ruled himself out of directing “but it was just never going to happen because he was making Sunshine.”

“They were trying to bring fresh eyes to this landscape,” says Fresnadillo. “Danny said, ‘We need you because we love Intacto and we want somebody to introduce something new in the story.'” As it was, Fresnadillo was initially reluctant to take on the project, being neither interested in sequels nor horror movies. But when he had the idea to tell the story through the experiences of one family, he was hooked.

The film picks up with the US military overseeing Britain’s resettlement after the virus has burned itself out. Don (Robert Carlyle), who survived the initial outbreak, and his young son (Mackintosh Muggleton) and daughter (Imogen Poots), who were safely abroad, are reunited in a safe zone on the Isle Of Dogs. The question is, what happened to mum?
“That’s something I really loved about the story,” says Fresnadillo. “There’s a similarity between a virus and a human being. A virus is trying always to survive and human beings also have an amazing survival instinct.

In Don’s case, his survival instinct wins over love.” With a further twist that some people may be immune to the virus (albeit carriers), and a twitchy US military prepared to incinerate anything that moves when the infection returns, this, in every way, is aiming to be bigger and better than its predecessor. So prepare for Apache gunships strafing Westminster and nighttime panic in the streets of London.

Says Macdonald, “This is more action horror, in the same way that Aliens was to Alien. In the first film, you didn’t know what was going to happen; in this film, you sort of know. When the infection comes back, you see it build and break out. There are some big scenes of terror and horror…”

28 Weeks Later is on general release now.

Click here to view the film trailer for 28 Weeks Later

New York Doll Thunders Copy Cats LP Reissued

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New York Doll Thunders Copy Cats LP Reissued

Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin's 1988 "Copy Cats" tribute collection of songs is to be made available for the first time in eight years later this month. The album features their homage to artists and bands the rock pair grew up with in New York. The eclectic covers that even late DJ John Peel declared "better than the originals" include Elvis Presley's "Crawfish" and "Alligator Wine" by Screaming Jay Hawkins. Other highlights are The Shirelles "Baby It's You" which features guest backing vocals by The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde and a version of The Chambers Brothers' "Uptown Harlem" which features Only Ones guitarist John Perry. "Copy Cats" is reissued on May 28 through Jungle Records. Click here to see a video clip of Johnny Thunders doing "I Was Born To Cry"

Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin’s 1988 “Copy Cats” tribute collection of songs is to be made available for the first time in eight years later this month.

The album features their homage to artists and bands the rock pair grew up with in New York.

The eclectic covers that even late DJ John Peel declared “better than the originals” include Elvis Presley’s “Crawfish” and “Alligator Wine” by Screaming Jay Hawkins.

Other highlights are The Shirelles “Baby It’s You” which features guest backing vocals by The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and a version of The Chambers Brothers’ “Uptown Harlem” which features Only Ones guitarist John Perry.

“Copy Cats” is reissued on May 28 through Jungle Records.

Click here to see a video clip of Johnny Thunders doing “I Was Born To Cry”

Ian Brown Reveals Autumn Tour Plans

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Ian Brown Reveals Autumn Tour Plans

Ian Brown has announced a huge 22 date UK tour starting this Autumn. The dates kick off at the Newcastle Academy on September 27, around the same time it is anticipated that Brown's fifth solo album will be ready for release. The new album's working title is "The World Is Yours" and Brown is working with fellow Mancunian musicians; Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke and the Happy Mondays' Paul Ryder. Speaking about the new material, Brown says he's more confident than ever about his musical abilities. The Monkey king said "I know everyone always says their latest is their best, but I really feel that this time. I’ve really gone all out with the lyrics and melodies. I’m trying to make my own "What’s Going On". It’s going to be something really beautiful, with violins, dead sharp beats, socially conscious lyrics – this time around, I’m trying to bury everything I’ve ever done.” At a recent charity event for Manchester Versus Cancer, Brown finished a short performance with a finale of Stone Roses classic "I Am The Resurrection" - joined on stage by former bandmate Mani and Andy Rourke. Catch Brown on tour at the following venues, more dates are expected to be announced soon, including Manchester and London. Tickets for these shows go on sale this Friday (May 18) at 9am. Newcastle Academy (September 27) Hull City Hall (28) Sheffield Octagon (29) Middlesbrough Town Hall (October 1) Lincoln Engine Shed (2) Halifax Victoria Hall (3) Leeds University (5) Warrington Parr Hall (6) Dundee Caird Hall (8) Motherwell Civic Hall (9) Edinburgh Corn Exchange (10) Llandudno Venue Cymru Arena (12) Preston Guildhall (13) Derby Assembly Rooms (15) Nottingham Rock City (16) Reading Hexagon (18) Birmingham Academy (19) Cambridge Corn Exchange (20) Southampton Guildhall (22) Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall (23) Bristol Academy (25) Liverpool University (26)

Ian Brown has announced a huge 22 date UK tour starting this Autumn.

The dates kick off at the Newcastle Academy on September 27, around the same time it is anticipated that Brown’s fifth solo album will be ready for release.

The new album’s working title is “The World Is Yours” and Brown is working with fellow Mancunian musicians; Smiths’ bassist Andy Rourke and the Happy Mondays’ Paul Ryder.

Speaking about the new material, Brown says he’s more confident than ever about his musical abilities. The Monkey king said “I know everyone always says their latest is their best, but I really feel that this time. I’ve really gone all out with the lyrics and melodies. I’m trying to make my own “What’s Going On”. It’s going to be something really beautiful, with violins, dead sharp beats, socially conscious lyrics – this time around, I’m trying to bury everything I’ve ever done.”

At a recent charity event for Manchester Versus Cancer, Brown finished a short performance with a finale of Stone Roses classic “I Am The Resurrection” – joined on stage by former bandmate Mani and Andy Rourke.

Catch Brown on tour at the following venues, more dates are expected to be announced soon, including Manchester and London.

Tickets for these shows go on sale this Friday (May 18) at 9am.

Newcastle Academy (September 27)

Hull City Hall (28)

Sheffield Octagon (29)

Middlesbrough Town Hall (October 1)

Lincoln Engine Shed (2)

Halifax Victoria Hall (3)

Leeds University (5)

Warrington Parr Hall (6)

Dundee Caird Hall (8)

Motherwell Civic Hall (9)

Edinburgh Corn Exchange (10)

Llandudno Venue Cymru Arena (12)

Preston Guildhall (13)

Derby Assembly Rooms (15)

Nottingham Rock City (16)

Reading Hexagon (18)

Birmingham Academy (19)

Cambridge Corn Exchange (20)

Southampton Guildhall (22)

Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall (23)

Bristol Academy (25)

Liverpool University (26)

Roger Waters – Earls Court May 12th

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Roger Waters – Earls Court May 12th

Roger Waters – Earls Court May12th It has been a busy week for Roger Waters. His British tour kicked off in Manchester last Monday, and by Thursday he found himself sharing a Barbican bill with his old Pink Floyd bandmates at a Syd Barrett tribute show. Waters, it should be noted, was not onstage at the same time as his old colleagues. Nick Mason did turn up, however, at Waters’ sold-out Earl’s Court show - proudly sponsored by Uncut - to assist the 11-piece band run through Pink Floyd’s classic “Dark Side Of The Moon” in its entirety. The gig was a spectacle of two equal halves, the first half consisting of faithful renditions of expected Floyd classics, alongside some lesser-known Waters favourites from “The Final Cut” and his post-Floyd solo albums. Highlights included “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, which grew from its delicate shimmering intro into a massive audience singalong, and “Wish You Were Here”, which found Waters in particularly fine voice. The appearance of the famous floating pig during “Sheep” completed part one of this enjoyable nostalgia trip. As the band took to the stage to perform “Dark Side Of The Moon”, Waters announced a special guest, and Nick Mason took up position behind the additional drumkit that had been wheeled onstage during the interval. The performance was faultless, with the lights and video screen visuals really cranking up the atmosphere. Nick Mason clicked perfectly with the band, as if he had been playing with them for the whole tour. The opening sound effects to “Time”, where Mason accompanied the ticking and ringing of the clocks with his tom-toms before the song burst into life, provided another great moment. The band (including Mason) encored with “Another Brick In The Wall”, the crowd chanting the chorus. The set closer was The Wall’s standout track, “Comfortably Numb”, with guitarists Snowy White and Dave Kilminster handling the trademark solos with aplomb. This was a fine show made even more memorable with the appearance of Mason, and added yet another chapter of Pink Floyd-related history to this venue. GARETH BEESLEY

Roger Waters – Earls Court May12th

It has been a busy week for Roger Waters. His British tour kicked off in Manchester last Monday, and by Thursday he found himself sharing a Barbican bill with his old Pink Floyd bandmates at a Syd Barrett tribute show. Waters, it should be noted, was not onstage at the same time as his old colleagues.

Nick Mason did turn up, however, at Waters’ sold-out Earl’s Court show – proudly sponsored by Uncut – to assist the 11-piece band run through Pink Floyd’s classic “Dark Side Of The Moon” in its entirety.

The gig was a spectacle of two equal halves, the first half consisting of faithful renditions of expected Floyd classics, alongside some lesser-known Waters favourites from “The Final Cut” and his post-Floyd solo albums. Highlights included “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, which grew from its delicate shimmering intro into a massive audience singalong, and “Wish You Were Here”, which found Waters in particularly fine voice. The appearance of the famous floating pig during “Sheep” completed part one of this enjoyable nostalgia trip.

As the band took to the stage to perform “Dark Side Of The Moon”, Waters announced a special guest, and Nick Mason took up position behind the additional drumkit that had been wheeled onstage during the interval. The performance was faultless, with the lights and video screen visuals really cranking up the atmosphere. Nick Mason clicked perfectly with the band, as if he had been playing with them for the whole tour. The opening sound effects to “Time”, where Mason accompanied the ticking and ringing of the clocks with his tom-toms before the song burst into life, provided another great moment.

The band (including Mason) encored with “Another Brick In The Wall”, the crowd chanting the chorus. The set closer was The Wall’s standout track, “Comfortably Numb”, with guitarists Snowy White and Dave Kilminster handling the trademark solos with aplomb. This was a fine show made even more memorable with the appearance of Mason, and added yet another chapter of Pink Floyd-related history to this venue.

GARETH BEESLEY

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