Tindersticks to play Kilkenny Arts Festival

Tindersticks have finally announced details of an Irish date on their sporadic European jaunt promoting the quite beautiful Falling Down A Mountain. Seemingly destined to remain on an Alexander the Great-esque tour of outer Europe, the band will play their first gig here on Irish soil - "the last mean spit out of the gob of Europe" - since a sold out show at Vicar Street some two years ago. Tickets ain't cheap at €37/35 but this is a band who seldom touch down here and are invariably worth every cent. They're also playing in St. Canice's cathedral, a venue which should be ideally suited to the band's orchestral sound. More details about the Kilkenny Arts Festival here and tickets for Tindersticks here. Show starts at 8pm.
And if you're going that far you could also check out - and I'm not sure if he's tired of this yet, but - the Choice Music Prize winning Adrian Crowley as he'll also play with Valerie Francis on the same day in the Set Theatre at 3pm. Tickets for that are available here.

Adelia, I Want To Love - Mogwai

Video: 'Lights' - Interpol

GSY!BE to play Tripod

Having already confirmed that they'll curate this year's ATP 'Nightmare Before Christmas' (following on from My Bloody Valentine), Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced their first show live in Tripod, Dublin in quite some time. They'll play Tripod on Friday, December 10th and tickets are priced at €24. By then there'll undoubtedly be a product to promote but no news as yet. Invariably I'd link to the band's website for upcoming details of future releases but that kind of thing seems beneath GSY!BE.
Tickets onsale here from June 24th at 9am.

The Suburbs - all 16 tracks of it!

So, The Suburbs is 16 tracks long. 16 fucking tracks! In the same way that the sight of Neil Hannon naked in a bath tub save for a bowler hat and bow tie made me queasy prior to the release of his new record (justifiably as it turns out), the notion that Arcade Fire have, during their hiatus, recorded 16 tracks that could hold your attention from beginning to end simply does not compute. I struggle to think of one rock band who have stretched things out to this length with even the remotest success. Shit, Neon Bible sagged more than a little with a comparatively penurious eleven tracks. Regardless, here's that tracklisting.....
01 The Suburbs
02 Ready to Start
03 Modern Man
04 Rococo
05 Empty Room
06 City With No Children
07 Half Light I
08 Half Light II (No Celebration)
09 Suburban War
10 Month of May
11 Wasted Hours
12 Deep Blue
13 We Used to Wait
14 Sprawl I (Flatland)
15 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16 The Suburbs (continued)
"Hope that something pure can last" indeed.
You'll already be familiar with two of the new tracks - Suburbs/Month Of May and now here's two more - Ready To Start has been mooted as the first single from the album.

R.I.P. Frank Sidebottom

Frank has, at some stage in the past, freaked me in the same way people get freaked about things you shouldn't, clowns for example. I could never quite figure out his appeal - I'm not English or, more specifically Northern enough. Frank was Max Headroom with a soul. But now he's gone. Hit The North-uh.

'Rancho Tetrahedron' - Cathal Coughlan

4 years on from his wonderfully demented song cycle Foburg, confirmed details of Cathal Coughlan's fifth solo album. His Facebook page has seen more updates these past 24 hours than a hormonal teenager.......

"Cathal Coughlan's fifth album, recorded with the Grand Necropolitan Quartet, is Rancho Tetrahedron, and will be released on Kitchenware Records on August 9, 2010. The album was recorded in various locations in London, California and Ireland, and contains 12 new songs. It was recorded by various people, including Oliver Knights of Turin Brakes (who also sang), Andy Ramsay of Stereolab and Coughlan himself.

Mixing, fittingly, ended in a breezeblock construction, adjoining the freight airport in San Diego, Xmas ‘09. It was freezing cold and, periodically, booming sound-systems would circle the empty parking lot outside. A giant East German flag decorated the wall."

There are also two live dates for now.
September 7th - Bush Hall, London
September 11th - Whelan's, Dublin
Tickets for the Whelan's gig, priced €20, here. Support from the frankly pointless Thread Pulls.

'Angel Echoes' (Jon Hopkins mix) - Four Tet

Another mix of one of the standout tracks from There Is Love In You. Worth a listen - the last music I heard from Jon Hopkin's was a sublime cover hidden away at the end of a bonus disc from James Yorkston's covers CD with the deluxe edition of When The Haar Rolls In.
Angel Echoes (Jon Hopkins remix) by Four Tet
mp3: Heron - Jon Hopkins

New Belle and Sebastian album imminent

The album - titleless at the moment - has been recorded in the US and now the band are seeking volunteers (preferably couples) to feature on the cover. Applications - in a typically B & S 'Readers Wives'-esque style - can be forwarded to coverart@banchory.net

Video: Gil Scott Heron/Hunter-Gatherer

New videos from two uniquely great albums.

'Angel Echoes' (Caribou remix) - Four Tet

Two creators of 2010's best records dry hump each other.........
Angel Echoes (Caribou remix) by Four Tet

33rd Galway Arts Festival

This year from July 10th to 25th. A list of the highlights then........

Adrian Crowley

....and that's your lot.

New James Blackshaw album

So eight albums in and he's decided to go electric on us. James Blackshaw has unassumingly carved a niche for himself to date as a 12-string acoustic guitar virtuoso and on his forthcoming album entitled All Is Falling, he's going all Dylan-went-to-Newport on us and has created a 45 minute song cycle featuring his first use of an electric 12-string. 2009's Glass Bead Game was overlooked in many quarters but was a compelling record deserving of wider recognition. Such is life. All Is Falling is out in late August.
mp3: Cross - James Blackshaw