Free Rumble Strips acoustic mp3s

The album is out this week, they've had more glowing reviews in the press than anyone we can remember in recent memory and they're going down a storm with pretty much everyone who hears the. Anyway, we've managed to wangle some exclusive acoustic versions of a few tracks out of the record label Fallout - download them here and spread the word.

1. Alarm Clock
2. Girls And Boys
3. Twenty Flight Rock

Future of the Left @ Engine Room, Brighton, Sept 9th.

I'll admit I was dithering about going to this show until the day before the gig but by god I'm glad I made that choice to deafen myself for fun on a Sunday night in a club that smelled overwhelmingly of toilet.
I know you were a fan of mclusky. Don't even try and argue that you weren't, or that they were just ok. Fuck off. They were brilliant; a white hot flash of anger and sharp edges, all off kilter top and groove-ridden bottom. So when they broke up and I had only managed to see them live once I was ashamed I hadn't made more of an effort while I could. Thank the lord for Future of the Left and second chances.
First off, how do they make the bass sound that filthy? Not in a sleazy, sexy, Girls Against Boys sort of way, all late night bars and cool haircuts. No. In a belligerent tramp sort of a way that is highly impressive to watch from a safe distance but if you get too close you know that you're the one who's going to come off worse.
Considering that the only songs I knew before the gig were 'The Lord Hates A Coward' and 'Fingers Become Thumbs,' both of which were played and sounded HUGE, the rest of the set was a fresh treat to listen to with each song sounding like your new favourite by verse two. Tracks like 'Manchasm' and 'Small Bones Small Bodies' sprinted past leaving us in their wake; 'Plague Of Onces' kicked me right in the balls; and despite some technical hitches - hey, would it be a small and sweaty gig if something didn't go wrong with the bass at least once? - once the closer 'adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood' spat its last notes and the stage cleared it was an true triumph of hard bastard determination over any technological shenanigans.
They said they'll be back this side of Christmas. Don't make the mistake I did with mclusky. See them as many times as you can because I'd like to think you're not as stupid as me.

Reading 2007. A festival of queues.

Don't get me wrong, I had a fucking brilliant time and saw loads of bands who were fantastic but the abiding memory is going to be that of having to queue for an hour and a half to get across that bastard river from my car to my campsite every time I needed to bring stuff over. I still bear the scars. As a friend of mine said, "this must be what war feels like."

But anyway, the highs for me were Smashing Pumpkins (who I fully expected to be disappointing so extra bonus points for the surprise factor there), Interpol, Metronomy, Long Blondes and The Horrors. Low points, apart from the poor organisation, were the rest of my campsite companions carking out early by 5am leaving me to sing Bon Jovi and Nik Kershaw songs (yes, I have nothing but the best compilation CDs) by myself around a dwindling fire, and the Chili Peppers from what I heard from my seat where I was drinking beer and trying to ignore them.

Hope anyone else who was there had as good a time as I did, feel free to add any comments about bands or post pics on here.

Secret Kanye Show For Vodafone TBA Awards

So, last Monday I went to the super secret Kanye show in Westminster (right next to the Houses of Parliament... nice)

After stupidly queuing in the wrong line for 20 minutes, we swiftly managed to get our label passes, get into the building, and into our seats in the golden circle upstairs.

The show was good; Kanyeeze has stage presence for days and bounded into the spotlight rapping whilst tour DJ A-Trak and the 30-piece orchestra energetically kicked the show off with 'I Wonder', an achingly beautiful song from the new album 'Graduation'. The Chi-town rapper then proceeded to perform a plethora of tracks from both old albums and new, including 'All Falls Down', 'Through The Wire' and current number one single 'Stronger', before culminating in an awesome flourish with a powerful rendition of 'Touch The Sky'. This final song was accompanied by immense bursts of confetti, people freaking out, and of course, the dulcet tones of adoring screaming fans.

I have to admit, having been blown away by the 'Graduation' playback last week, I was a little disappointed with the show; I expected Kanye to perform more tracks from the new album and stay on stage a little longer. That was my only reservation, and it's a small one at that. The fact is that this cat knows how to rock a show silly, and he's one of very few mainstream rappers out there who can leap and run around the stage, exercise excellent breath control AND get the crowd hyped all at the same time. For that, you've gotta admire him.

Here's a lovely download of a phat Diamonds Remix featuring Jay Z to brighten up your wet summer's day.

And don't forget, 'Graduation' is out in stores September 10th - be sure to check it out!

State of The Hives Address

I attended the highly sweaty, impossible-to-get tickets-for and loud as hell show by The Hives last night at The 100 Club and by god it was good fun. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if it would be much cop as I didn't know if people were still as into the band as they were a couple of years ago but if the gig last night is anything to go by then everything is still very rosy for Sweden's finest purveyors of rock and roll. Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is as fantastic a frontman as ever, whipping the crowd up with promises of a new religion dedicated entirely to him and The Hives, and diatribes about just how damn GOOD the new material is.
They've got a new album out in October and if I heard them correctly (which is always doubtful) some of the new songs they played are called 'Tick Tick Boom' and possibly 'Try Again'. But don't quote me on that.
They played some old favourites as well like 'Die, All Right!' and 'Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones' which sent the blokes in front of me into a fucking frenzy and then they finished with a triumphant 'Hate To Say I Told You So' and 'Walk Idiot Walk' before guitarist Nicholaus Arson crowdsurfed his way offstage and around the venue for a lap of honour.
Really really enjoyed it. I'm a fan all over again.

Found this online, feel free to download it - The Hives doing 'Back In Black.'

Duracell!

A mate of mine somehow managed to book Duracell for his clubnight in the middle of nowhere last night so I went along to check him out. I'd seen plenty of youtube footage etc but never actually in the flesh; he was just brilliant. If you're not au fait with his work he's a French bloke (very English accent though) who just plays drums but has a series of triggers hooked up to them via his laptop so he can play whole weird electronic tunes from beating out mental arrythmic rhythms. Totally mental. At some points I wondered if he was actually talking to aliens via bizarre noises and bleeps.

For an example of what Duracell's music sounds like, download Ninja Spirit.

Justice secret show last night

Well I couldn't make it as I was recovering (or trying to) from my weekend at Download festival but Cara from our office went down to check out the guestlist-only Justice show at the Mean Fiddler last night (Monday 11th) and said it was just amazing. From the footage below shot during the new single DANCE (out this week, go buy it if you don't already have it. Tell all your friends to do the same) it looks absolutely mental as one would expect from a Justice gig to be honest.




This band is going to be HUGE this year! If for some bizarre reason you don't already have the brilliant Justice vs Simian 'We Are Your Friends' then right click and save as NOW.

I haven't checked my Download photos yet but if any are worksafe enough to be posted up here I'll do so in the next couple of days along with my highlights of the weekend.