Video: 'The Adventures of Flannery' - Cathal Coughlan

A portrait of Ireland's finest artist as a young man fronting Microdisney, Fatima Mansions and some of the most perfectly formed solo albums of the last 20 years.

The Adventures of Flannery from Jessica Fuller on Vimeo.

Stream: 'Have One On Me' - Joanna Newsom

Egads, this is quite fucking wonderful.

Roky Erikson w/ Okkervil River

Former 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erikson returns with a new album entitled True Love Cast Out All Evil. He'll have no less a backing band than fellow Austinites Okkervil River. True Love will be released on this side of the Atlantic on June 7th on Chemikal Underground.

True Love Cast Out All Evil:

01 Devotional Number One
02 Ain't Blues Too Sad
03 Goodbye Sweet Dreams
04 Be and Bring Me Home
05 Bring Back The Past
06 Please Judge
07 John Lawman
08 True Love Cast Out All Evil
09 Forever
10 Think of as One
11 Birds'd Crash
12 God Is Everywhere

mp3: Goodbye Sweet Dreams

Video: Gil Scott-Heron 'On Being New Here'

Primal Scream to perform 'Screamadelica' in full

That 'Don't Look Back' vibe has fully caught on now. Primal Scream recently announced their intent to perform their groundbreaking 1991 album in full this coming November at the London Olympia. One date has been announced thus far but expect a plethora of dates elsewhere as this one sells out. Sreamadelica is probably the only time in their career when the band have treaded that fine line between genuine dance/rock fusion and a carefully considered, indeed frequently brilliant take on the Stones' boogie. The band haven't landed a punch since with the obvious exception of XTRMNTR and Vanishing Point. Listening to this record again today, Higher Than The Sun still sounds untouched by earthly concerns. Beautiful.

'Our Inventions' - Lali Puna

First album in 5 years from German electronic types. Out April 1st.
Remember - Lali Puna
Tracklist
01 – Rest Your Head
02 – Remember
03 – Everything Is Always
04 – Our Inventions
05 – Move On
06 – Safe Tomorrow
07 – Future Tense
08 – Hostile To Me
09 – That Day
10 – Out There Feat. Yukihiro Takahashi

Port O'Brien Irish dates

Having released the wonderful Threadbare last year, Port O'Brien have confirmed two Irish dates in April. They'll play Crawdaddy on the 8th and Galway's Róisín Dubh on the 10th. Tickets for the Galway date available here.
In The Meantime (Daytrotter Session) - Port O'Brien

Withered Hand

Scotland seems to breed bedsit poets. Withered Hand is the work of visual artist Dan Willson. Having released two EPs in 2008 & 2009, Withered Hand released their full debut, entitled 'Good News' last September, the record funded by the Scottish Arts Council. Curiously it was produced by Kramer - he of Galaxie 500 and Bongwater fame. It's tuneful in parts and very lo-fi indeed. It sounds in parts like Daniel Johnston married to the ramshackle arrangement of early Badly Drawn Boy (before he drafted Joan Collins in to appear in his videos). Lyrically Willson mixes religious references with sex, though his take on the latter borrows more from Belle & Sebastian's occasional Kenneth Williams-esque take on things than, say, Arab Strap's walk on the seedier side.
Religious Songs - Withered Hand

Video Premiere: The Antlers: "Bear"

Video Premiere: The Antlers: "Bear"

Live: Radiohead @ Henry Jane Fonda Theatre, 24/1/10

Free downloadable mp3 of the band's recent Haitian fundraiser. That's a pretty phenomenal setlist.

Mp3: Radiohead live (via web in front)

Setlist

1. Faust Arp
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. Arpeggi
4. National Anthem
5. Nude
6. Karma Police
7. Kid A
8. Morning Bell
9. How To Disappear Completely
10. Wolf at the Door
11. The Bends
12. Reckoner
13. Lucky
14. Bodysnatchers
15. Dollars & Cents
16. Airbag
17. Exit Music (For A Film)

First encore:
18. Everything In Its Right Place
19. You & Whose Army?
20. Pyramid Song
21. All I Need

Second encore:
22. Lotus Flower (new song)
23. Paranoid Android
24. Street Spirit

'I'm New Here' - Gil Scott Heron

2010's first genuine 'What the fuck?' moment.

Video: 'The Motion Makes Me Last' - Eluvium

New video from Eluvium. Below that a remix of Motion by Four Tet.

Google's Ethic Cleansing

So 2010 is clearly Google's year of action. Beginning with their pledge to "review the feasibility of our business operations in China" due to - they say - "the theft of intellectual property from Google" (far be it from me to suggest that having only secured 29% of the available market, they're taking their ball and going home), they've now moved on to arbitrarily (the evidence suggests) shutting down blogger sites which - they say - illegally host mp3s.
Pretending that the internet is not going to be used as a means of disseminating downright appalling quality webrips of unreleased albums (as is often the case) suggests an absence of any sense of reality. It's one thing to issue warnings to a blogger regarding the content of his/her site but quite another to vaporise an entire blog in a fit of pique.
I'd first noticed this myself when a blog I subscribe to vanished overnight. You know you've been vaporised when Google tells you 'The blog you were looking for was not found.' Now there are terms and conditions regarding the use of blogger, but it seems that many of the blogs which have disappeared are now claiming that they were not in violation of the T & Cs because they had authorisation from the record companies to post the mp3s. This particular exchange - such as it is - highlights Google's apparent intransigence on the issue.
They repeatedly cite the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and state that they - Google - would be the subject of copyright infringement if they did not remove the offending blogs. What seems to have happened in many cases is that blogs have fled en masse to WordPress and relaunched there. Interesting to see how WordPress handle that. Meanwhile back on Blogger, it's that China feeling.

Video: 'Go Do' - Jonsi

The last person this avian-infatuated was Kate Bush on Aerial. Which augurs well for Go.

'Ex-Maniac' - Babybird

This product may or may not contain Johnny Depp.

Autres Directions mix

Featuring Beach House, Owen Pallett and Sleeping Years.

Autres Directions, February 2010 by Autres Directions on Mixcloud

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt & The Magnetic Fields

Wry. That's Stephin Merritt. And he's always come across as something of a curmudgeon (see video below; "I'm a pretty dark person") - a Van Morrison with synths - but over the last decade and a half he's been directly responsible for some wonderful records, not least 69 Love Songs which was a collection of, well, 69 love songs. He's also been responsible for - deep breath - projects with Future Bible Heores, The Gothic Archies, The 6ths, soundtracks for Eban & Charley and Pieces of April, Nickelodeon show theme tunes, and Showtunes - a collection of songs written for three plays. Although his recent work with The Magnetic Fields has veered a little too close to self-parody on the one hand and concept pop on the other, over the past 15 years or more (it's taken ten to put this film together) Merritt's back catalogue and his unquenching desire to branch out into other genres deserves a deeper look.

Special Moves - Mogwai live CD/DVD this spring

This from the Mogwai page......

Mogwai's first live album will be released on Rock Action Records this spring. Released alongside the live film Burning. The formats will be CD and DVD and limited deluxe triple vinyl box set which will also include the dvd of Burning, set lists and a poster. The artwork was designed by Aidan Moffat.

To mark the announcement of the full tracklisting for this release Mogwai will be giving away a free MP3 of the song 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong taken from the Special Moves live CD via the minisite www.mogwaispecialmoves.com

The track list for the the cd/dvd version is:

- I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
- Friend Of The Night
- Hunted By A Freak
- Mogwai Fear Satan
- Cody
- You Don't Know Jesus
- I Know You Are But What Am I
- I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
- 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
- Like Herod
- Glasgow Megasnake

The track list for the vinyl version is

- I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
- Friend Of The Night
- Hunted By A Freak
- Mogwai Fear Satan
- Cody
- You Don't Know Jesus
- I Know You Are But What Am I
- i Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
- 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
- Like Herod
- Glasgow Megasnake
- Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home
- Scotlands Shame
- New Paths To Helicon Part 1
- Batcat
- Thank You Space Expert
- The Precipice

The extra songs featured on the vinyl release will be available as a free download with the CD.

2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (Live) - Mogwai

Video: 'Arc-En-Ciel' - Hunter-Gatherer

The Choice Music Prize will be awarded at the beginning of March. The Duckworth Lewis method are in the running. Hunter-Gatherer isn't. Fucking Ireland eh?

Vampire Weekend on La Blogotheque

Riding high on the knowledge that Contra made it to the top of the Billboard charts last week, Vampire Weekend recently underwent the Blogotheque experience. The band are oft derided and dismissed due in equal part to their attire (think an underdressed version of Dexy's circa Don't Stand Me Down) and the suspicion that they were milking the bum notes of Paul Simon's Graceland on their eponymous debut. What I like about the band is their stubborn refusal on Contra to alter their sound and it's resulted in a frequently lovely record. Horchata in particular is a breath of fresh air.
'Horchata' - Vampire Weekend