The Boy

One of my long-time favourite bands Phoenix performed new tracks on American TV recently: Trying To Be Cool, Drakkar Noir and Chloroform. These are all from their new album ‘Bankrupt!’, out today, which I definitely recommend.

Just as exciting- I’m seeing them play Shepherds Bush Empire in London tonight! Anyone else going?

Wakin On A Pretty Day - Kurt Vile

A good friend told me this new track is worth a listen and she’s right.

It bodes well for the album his ‘Wakin On A Pretty Daze’ that just came out. It’s getting lots of good reviews with an average score of 7.9... His last album ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’ was one of my favourites of 2011 and is definitely worth looking up if you missed it.

Graceless - The National (live at All Tomorrow’s Parties 09.12.12)

Quick post to highlight an excellent new track by The National. Also check out Demons with its nice symmetrical video and the excellent Don’t Swallow The Cap. All three are from their new album ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ out on 20 May. Exciting…..

New Generation - Suede (live at Alexandra Palace 30.03.13)

Last week I saw Suede play Alexandra Palace in North London. It is my least favourite venue in London for a few reasons so I had my doubts but the show was ten times better than I expected.

Y’see I forgot that Suede really know what they’re doing live. They are very experienced at this and Brett Anderson in particular has it down to an art. He knows how to make the songs sound fresh, involve the crowd, please hardcore fans, etc etc. I’ve never seen a bad Suede gig. 

Of course this time could have been different as they hadn’t put out an album for 11 years.  That did little to deter the many Suede-fans from my youth packing out the venue- good to see fans sticking with Brett & co after so long! 

It was a great gig with so much energy, one of the best Suede sets I’ve seen. They were hits from most albums- they played every famous single you could want, some more obscure album tracks album tracks (like Sleeping Pills and Pantomime Horse) and a fan-favourite b-side (Killing Of A Flashboy) to mix it up a little. I’m not a huge fan of the new album yet but live the new material sat well next to the favourites.

The full setlist is online at setlist.fm for all you completists.

If you like this video of New Generation, their last song of the night, then you might like The Wild Ones, it’s funny to watch Brett sing the whole thing from the front of the crowd.

Entertainment - Phoenix

Nice acoustic clip of Phoenix performing their current single, co-starring a dog that wanders into shot. The whole performance is very French.

Foals in session for 6 Music - 13.02.2013

To celebrate seeing Foals play the Royal Albert Hall tonight here’s a five track 6Music session from earlier this year, just be careful if you’re Lavernphobic. Really looking forward to seeing them later, it’s been ages.

Total Life Forever 01:03

Inhaler 07:27

Spanish Sahara 12:44

Providence 22:43

Moon 27:05

Blur - Live from Mercury Cafe, Denver 01.02.96 - Virgin promo

Vintage Blur set from 17 years ago (shiiiiiiit….) filmed five months after they released ‘The Great Escape’.

Great setlist taking in the best of their first four albums. You get exactly what you’d want from a mid-90s Blur set- Damon bouncing like a pinball, Graham thrashing around (how does he not really hurt himself at 2:10??), Alex just fringe, fag and bass and Dave, well, playing drums.

There’s heckling all the way through though, especially around 6:46 (“Wankers!!!” being shrieked). Oasis fans maybe? It was a weird time.

Setlist: Intermission / Popscene / Tracy Jacks / It Could Be You / Charmless Man / End Of A Century / Oily Water / Mr. Robinson’s Quango / Jubilee / To The End / She’s So High / Globe Alone / Advert / Bank Holiday / Supa Shoppa / Country House / Girls & Boys / He Thought Of Cars / Stereotypes / This Is A Low / Parklife / The Universal

Inspiring James Murphy interview 

He talks about self-improvement and fear of failure:

“I was bad at my life… I was meant to be smart and creative but hearing those things can make you scared that you’re going to do something stupid or uninteresting. There was safety in doing nothing.” 

This is one of those interviews to watch a few times.

Kanye West benefit concert 12.12.12

Tonight. Hammersmith Apollo, London. Three standing tickets for Kanye West. This is exciting!

As a teaser for tonight I thought I’d post this 22 minute clip of his charity gig at Madison Square Garden from last December. Man, only 4 hours until he’s onstage

Mirror Kissers - The Cribs

Last night by the awesome power of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead I ended up at Shepherd’s Bush Empire watching them support The Cribs! It was an NME show; The Cribs are about to be awarded NME’s Outstanding Contribution To Music award. WoooOOO!!

I’m not sure how many readers will have heard of The Cribs- they’re a really good punky little band but they never made it HUGE and maybe they haven’t made it to all of America. If you’re interested this NME video serves as a pretty good introduction: http://bcove.me/spcvn6dc. Check em out

Entertainment - Phoenix

First single from Phoenix’s fifth album ‘Bankrupt!’ which is out in April (and still hasn’t leaked…)

Typically Phoenix song- synths, quiet reflective bits, rolling drums like Lisztomania, ambiguous lyrics. Ha, that probably describes about a million tracks. That’s why I’m not a journalist : )

From A Mess To The Masses is a tour movie following Phoenix touring the world with their mega-selling breakthrough 2009 album ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’. It’s a rare chance to see them offstage- I’ve been a fan since 2001 and until now haven’t seen them acting this casually, laid back and joking with each other. It’s in English with French subs.

I spent so long searching for this online and then I finally find it two months before the next album comes out… Ah well, watching this can as a good warm up for ‘Bankrupt!’. Hope you like it