Category Archives: Music

Primavera Sound 2010 Festival Line Up

Catalonia, Music, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s that time of year again! As Barcelona’s winter continues to fling a surprising array of nastiness at us, we’re already getting the occasional day that lets us dream of spring. And spring in Barcelona means one thing: the Primavera Sound festival. This year’s festival takes place from the 27th to the 29th of May, at the Parc del Fòrum.

This is the line up so far. It’s pretty much final, though a few more acts will likely be named. The big names so far appear to be The Charlatans, The Fall, Gary Numan, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys, Pixies, Wilco and Wire.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Apse
Atlas Sound
Beach House
Beak>
Ben Frost
Best Coast
Bigott
Bis
Biscuit
Black Lips
Black Math Horseman
Boy 8-Bit
Broken Social Scene
Built To Spill
Camaron, La Leyenda Del Tiempo
Circulatory System
CocoRosie
Cohete
Cold Cave
Condo Fucks
Crocodiles
Delorean
Diplo
Dr. Dog
Dum Dum Girls
Emilio José
Endless Boogie
Fake Blood
Florence + The Machine
Fuck Buttons
Ganglians
Gary Numan
Grizzly Bear
Half Foot Outside
HEALTH
Here We Go Magic
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Japandroids
Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
Joker featuring Nomad
Junip
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Les Savy Fav
Lidia Damunt
Liquid Liquid
Low performing “The Great Destroyer”
Major Lazer
Marc Almond
Matt & Kim
Mission Of Burma
Moderat
Monotonix
Mujeres
Nana Grizol
No Age
Nueva Vulcano
ODDSAC
Orbital
Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)
Panda Bear
Pavement
Pet Shop Boys
Pixies
Polvo
Real Estate
Roddy Frame
Scout Niblett
Seefeel
Shellac
Sian Alice Group
Sic Alps
Sleigh Bells
Spoon
Standstill
Sunny Day Real Estate
Superchunk
Surfer Blood
The Almighty Defenders
The Antlers
The Big Pink
The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77
The Books
The Bundles
The Charlatans performing “Some Friendly”
The Clean
The Drums
The Fall
The Field
The King Khan & BBQ Show
The New Pornographers
The Psychic Paramount
The Slits
The Smith Westerns
The Wave Pictures
The XX
Thee Oh Sees
Titus Andronicus
Tortoise
Ui
Wilco
Wild Beasts
Wild Honey
Wire
Yeasayer

Guardia Civil is the new arbitrator of jazz

Music, Spain, , , , ,

It’s not clear whether the Guardia’s elite Jazz Investigation Unit was sent out to Sigüenza or if they simply consulted its Contemporary Arts Bureau.

For what it’s worth, I don’t like genre labels as they always end up being exclusive rather than inclusive. Here’s hoping that the Anti-Folk Brigade don’t get called out to tonight’s Jeffrey Lewis gig in Barcelona.

thebadPoll: Song for a desert island

Music, Polls

Now before I get started with this re-inauguration of thebadPoll, let me clarify something: this is a different type of thebadPoll that’s entirely comment-driven. The old fashioned voting one will be back next week. This actually started out as a ‘what song would you like played at your funeral?’ post… but I felt that I risked sounding way too morbid for a cheerful late-summer Saturday evening.

My question to you is simple: which song would you pick if you had to pick just one song? Imagine yourself on a desert island, with only one song to accompany you… what would it be? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below… if you comment with a YouTube/similar link, I’ll add the video to this post.

My choice: it was a difficult decision, but currently I lean in favour of I’ll Be Your Mirror, by Lou Reed, performed by Nico and the Velvet Underground. It’s a near-perfect love song with great guitar that still manages to pack some poetic punch. Here’s a video, in case you didn’t already know this fantastic piece of music.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHmAUODVaLY[/youtube]

Continue reading thebadPoll: Song for a desert island →

If you can remember the 1970s, you weren’t there

Music, , ,

Summercase festival is fast approaching and the line-up’s looking OK. I’ve never been before but I imagine it’s a bit like Primavera Sound only with a different name.

There’s definitely a big seventies feel to the lineup, with Blondie, the Sex Pistols and The Stranglers all playing. Although, if you’re Katie Addleman of Barcelona Metropolitan, that would be a 1980s theme. Huh? Anyway, what do I know? I can’t even remember the 70s.

What is Royal Trux? Pt.1

Music

Friends and well-wishers may well know that my favourite rock band is the Royal Trux, a Washington DC/Chicago/San Francisco outfit from the 1990s. Combining a Keith Richards-heroin-blues-boogie-woogie aesthetic with Captain Beefheart craziness and the musical theories of Ornette Coleman, Royal Trux rocked on a different level. The band consisted of Neil Hagerty on guitar and vocals and Jennifer Herrema on lead vocals. Most of their records were released on Drag City until, following the huge popularity of grunge rock (a scene they weren’t really remotely connected to), Virgin Records offered them a huge 3 album deal. When Virgin realised that they hadn’t signed the next Nirvana, they panicked and paid Royal Trux off after only two of the three albums had been recorded. The Trux went back to Drag City. They split in 2001 after Jennifer Herrema ‘was caught with an alcoholic beverage in her hand’ (they’d been clean for years).

Well, if that hasn’t done enough to pique your interest, have a look at this promotional video, filmed for the album Thank You by Virgin Records. It should make things much clearer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxStEwMIks[/youtube]

Max Carlish in Pete in Kate on Channel 4

Music, , , , , ,

Stalking Pete Doherty, Channel 4’s 10 pm documentary last night was one of the oddest and most disturbing TV shows I’ve ever seen.Opinion on Popbitch and the C4 messageboard is surprisingly fairly united: Carlish is obviously seriously ill, and even ‘junkie scum’, grubby handed Kate Moss marrying rock singer Pete Doherty deserves some sympathy for the relentless pursual and harrassment he suffered at the lens of Carlish.

The film was essentially a documentary about the failed documentary that media studies teacher Carlish wanted to make about the Libertines’ ex-singer. It focused more on Carlish and his own increasingly disturbing quest to “have [his] moment of fame” than it did on the heavy drug use and erratic behaviour of Doherty. I was pretty shcoked to see footage of Carlish filming himself (this was actually about 50% of the film), shouting his love for Pete – over and over again, having a tantrum when he wasn’t allowed backstage with some students he’d brought along, crying and sobbing, dancing in his bedroom at his mum’s house to Electric Dreams, asking Pete how it felt to be “more loved than Kurt Cobain” – a highly questionable claim… the man is relentless after the sense of car-crash TV humour died off (about two minutes in), the uneasiness crept in.

I have to say that in retrospect, Carlish obviously needs care and attention, and that in some ways the film should not have been broadcast. Hearing him scream “I know Pete a million times better than you!” at one of Doherty’s friends, or doing his “Max – on Pete – in Kate; Max inside Kate – on top of Pete” bit wasn’t funny, it was pretty embarrassing and made me feel like I was at a freakshow, and should have known better.

Update: Comments closed on this post. While amusing, they were clearly off topic. Feel free to contact me if you feel you’ve got something relevant to add to this. Cheers.