Video: 'Here To Fall' - Yo La Tengo

The Mercury Prize 2009

Established back in 1992 as a high-brow alternative to the Brit awards, the Mercury Music Prize (as it was then known) has recently morphed into the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. Priding itself on its outsider status, the annual shortlist was announced just last week and the following are this year's nominees.

Glasvegas “Glasvegas” (Sony BMG)
Bat For Lashes “Two Suns” (EMI)
Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew” (Absolute/Hoop)
The Horrors “Primary Colours” (XL)
Kasabian “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum” (Sony Music)
Led Bib “Sensible Shoes” (Cuneiform)
The Invisible “The Invisible” (Titan/Pyramid)
La Roux “La Roux” (Polydor)
Friendly Fires “Friendly Fires” (XL)
Sweet Billy Pilgrim “Twice Born Men” (EMI)
Speech Debelle “Speech Therapy” (Big Dada)
Florence and The Machine “Lungs” (Island)

What I hadn't realised about the Mercury is that you need to apply in order to be considered, thus debunking the myth I had possibly created for myself, that it was indeed a reward for musicians operating outside of the mainstream sphere. So what this suggests to me is that 90% aren't bothered and if your favourite is not on there, it's not because they've gone unnoticed, it's just that they couldn't be arsed applying.
As for this year's list, well, the inclusion of Kasabian for starters is, at best, perplexing and, at worst, tantamount to an abuse of human rights. Good to see Lisa Hannigan included if for no other reason that the nomination should result in an increase in sales. 'Sea Sew' is a beautiful album and merits whatever retrospective publicity it gets.
All that said, I imagine Bat For Lashes will get the nod in September, an album notable for her duet with Scott Walker but equally notable for the fact that it sounded as if Scott Walker had as much interest in reading the county cricket scores as he had making a guest appearance. These are cynical times.

'Here To Fall' - Yo La Tengo

Opening track from new album entitled 'Popular Songs' due for release in September. Still tickets available for their show in Dublin in November.
mp3: Here To Fall

The BQE - A film by Sufjan Stevens

Busy man - releasing a film project (which he's also done the music for) and still 48 States to cover.

THE BQE- A Film By Sufjan Stevens from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Where there's life, there's.......

.....Hope and she's coming to these shores to play a mini-Irish tour in support of her upcoming album 'Through the Devil Softly'. Sandoval and her band The Warm Inventions (who include a certain C. O'Ciosoig from My Bloody Valentine in their ranks) bring their narco-pop fuzz to the following venues in October.

Oct 29th Roisin Dubh, Galway

Oct 30th Cypress Avenue, Cork

Oct 31st Vicar Street, Dublin

Some new Thom Yorke music

In the absence of any new Radiohead material of late this'll have to do. Thom Yorke has joined the likes of The National, Dinosaur Jr and Mercury Rev in conributing to a benefit album entitled 'Ciao My Shining Star'. Yorke's contribution is entitled 'All For The Best' and can be heard here (via Stereogum)
He also performed a new track entitled 'The Present Tense' during a solo performance at the Latitude festival over the weekend.

Riceboy Sleeps

Mentioned this before but it bears repeating as it's released officially this Monday, 20th July. Something of a Sigur Ros side-project, it's ultimately an instrumental album of beguiling ambience. Many of the tracks weigh in at more than 7 minutes but to these ears however, it's the finest album of 2009 thus far.

New Canadian Music III: The Most Serene Republic

Based in Milton, Ontario TMSR have just recently (as recently as July 14th as it happens) released their third album '...And The Ever Expanding Universe'. For reference points think Broken Social Scene or more accurately Stars. If 'Set Yourself On Fire' worked for you then The Most Serene Republic could be exacly what you'd been hoping that your Amazon list of recommended music would one day throw up. For an album that sounds occasionally all over the place, there's an admirable restraint to 'Universe' - it falls well short of the irritating kitchen sink approach of, say, Architecture in Helsinki.
Myspace

Another Pixies show....another sell out

After the Klondike rush for tickets for October 1st and 2nd shows - both of which sold out in seconds - it was always going to be a scramble once details of a third show were added. So it proved. Sold out signs flashed up within minutes of the tickets being made available for the September 30th show.
I've been through the maddening routine many times before.....sitting in front of a computer screen at 8.55am, frantically jabbing F5 until you're asked to select a ticket. Click on best available (you generally don't have the time to be picky), and then pray, pray, pray that those two words you have to enter are legible.......and you're in. Or not.
This finally worked for me this morning - the downside is that I've probably been allocated seating on the roof with an obscured view (in the scramble to enter my details I didn't even check) but, hey, it's The Pixies doing 'Doolittle' at the Olympia.

'What'cha Gonna Do About It?' - Condo Fucks

aka Yo La Tengo. Tickets still available for November 5th show @ Tripod available here.

New Canadian Music II:Elliott Brood

Nominees for the Polaris music prize are generally a pretty good barometer for the health or otherwise of the Canadian music scene. Recent winners include the likes of Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007 - beating the likes of Arcade Fire, Feist, The Besnard Lakes and Chad VanGaalen to the prize) and Final Fantasy (2006) give an indication of not only the strength but the diversity of the scene over here.
This year's nominees include some old reliables and some fresh talent, not least of which is Elliott Brood. As is the case with many Canadian bands who eventually make a breakthrough this side of the ocean, they're no overnight success story. Their Polaris nomination comes on the back of their sophomore album 'Mountain Meadows' but the trio have been together since 2002. Worth checking out.
Myspace

New Canadian Music I:The Rural Alberta Advantage

Creating something of a stir here in Canada at the moment are TRAA. A three-piece from Alberta, they fall into the indie/alt country category. This is how they describe themselves.........

The Rural Alberta Advantage play indie-rock songs about hometowns and heartbreak, born out of images from growing up in Central and Northern Alberta. They sing about summers in the Rockies and winters on the farm, ice breakups in the spring time and the oil boom’s charm, the mine workers on compressed, the equally depressed, the city’s slow growth and the country’s wild rose, but mostly the songs just try to embrace the advantage of growing up in Alberta.

Going on the description alone makes me think of a Canadian Go-Betweens. Which would be no bad thing. They've just been signed up to Saddle Creek and their debut album 'Hometowns' was released on July 7th.

Myspace

Yo La Tengo @ Tripod, 5th November

In support of their new album 'Popular Songs'. Wonderful news indeed. These tickets have been on sale since last Thursday, mind and are available here.

New S Darko movie soundtrack

.....will feature amongst others Chemical Brothers, Ed Harcourt, er Whale and this wonderful song.......

The film itself, if this trailer is anything to go by, is appalling. Straight to DVD with ya.......

Paul McCartney vs Newfoundland

I'm in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the moment and, as it happens, so too is Paul McCartney, here to play a gig to some 60,000 Haligonians. The event has been described as the biggest in Halifax's 260 year history (I'm assuming that The Wedding Present haven't yet made it here then). But all is not sweetness and light as far as McCartney's relationship with Canada goes, specifically with Nova Scotian neighbours Newfoundland.

It all stems from McCartney and his ex-wife, Heather Mills' comments regarding seal hunting. Back in 2006 it seems that the McCartneys described the commercial hunting of seals a "stain" on Canada's character. As far as McCartney was concerned 97% of the seals hunted were under 3 months old. However the Newfoundlanders weren't willing to take the McCartney's criticism lying down and the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams engaged in a heated debate about the issue and it's left a bad taste (no pun intended).

So don't expect the red carpet to be rolled out for the former Beatle at tomorrow night's (July 11th) show. It isn't yet a sell out apparently, but that may have something to do with the 125 dollar price for a general admission ticket. Let it be folks, let it be.

Through The Devil Softly - Hope Sandoval

Ah, finally some news of Hope Sandoval. Best known for her work with Mazzy Star but her largely overlooked album from 2001 with the Warm Inventions is also worth a mention. But that was 8 years ago and now - this September in fact - she's back once again with the Warm Inventions. Bizarrely, parts of the record were recorded in Wicklow. I have no comment to make.

Here's the tracklisting......

Blanchard
Wild Roses
For The Rest Of Your Life
Lady Jessica and Sam
Sets The Blaze
Thinking Like That
There's A Willow
Trouble
Fall Aside
Blue Bird
Satellite

Pixies @ Olympia October 1st/2nd

Tickets for these 2 nights go on sale tomorrow @ 9am here. But you probably already knew that. The Pixies + The Olympia = Bliss.
Edit: Sold out in under two minutes eh. Does anyone understand how Ticketmaster operate online sales for gigs such as these? The conspiracy theorist in me believes that it's not just pot luck in terms of grabbing a ticket online. This gig was always going to be waaaaayyyy oversubscribed - similar to Radiohead and Arcade Fire gigs there in the recent past - but given that it's the Olympia and it's The Pixies, how many tickets are actually made available for purchase online? Clearly I'm just pissed that I didn't get one.
For those optimists out there, this is a good site for buying tickets for sold-out gigs at face value. You'll have to join the queue for this gig however.

Stillness is the Move - Dirty Projectors