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We've been a little bit slow to post this so no doubt many of you have heard it already, but we couldn't risk this wonderful slice of sun-infused hard pop escaping anyone's attention. The Pastels are one of Blasted's favourite bands and we can barely contain our excitement at the prospect of hearing new album Slow Summits, due out on Domino Records on 27 May. There's a taster in the form of the audio for first single, Check My Heart, below. Maybe the summer's on its way after all.
The Pastels new single "Check My Heart" is out April 08, 2013, click here to order: http://smarturl.it/checkmyheart The singles appears on the new album (first album in 15 years!) 'Slow Summits' and can be pre-orderd here: http://www.dominorecordco.com/slowsummits http://www.thepastels.org/ http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/the-pastels/ https://twitter.com/pastels_the
Glasgow's rarely short of excellent bands and now is no exception. At the forefront of the current scene are Casual Sex (featuring Sam Smith, previously of the much missed Mother & The Addicts) who bring to mind David Bowie, Magazine, Josef K and the Monochrome Set - in other words, they're bloody (s)excellent. They launch their new single Stroh "80" this Friday (5 April) at Nice'N'Sleazy, playing alongside The Amazing Snakeheads and Asian Babes, and costing an arousing £5 on the door, or an irresistible £3 in advance from Monorail Music or Tickets Scotland.
If you can't make that (or even if you can) then you can do far worse than to listen to their recent BBC 6Music session for Marc Riley, or to stream the single's erotic A-side below. A sexy 7" (or a download, if you so prefer) is available now on the Moshi Moshi Singles Club and can be bought directly from the band, the label, or any record shop worth its salt... The grooves on our copy are practically worn out already. See you at Sleazy's.
The debut single from Glasgow's Casual Sex. Released on the Moshi Moshi Singles Club on 1st April on limited edition 7" vinyl and download. www.facebook.com/casualsexmusic
It’s important to take a breather after the stress and strain of a ‘big job’ - even a prolific workaholic like Jean-Luc Godard decided he needed to work on a smaller project after the the challenge of working on the big budget Cinemascope epic that was Le Mépris.
Mark Cousins may not appear to have much in common with Godard, but like the Swiss director, he completed a mammoth (15 and ½ hours long, and 6 years in the making) guided tour the history of cinema, the superlative The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Passionate, always engaging and clearly in love with the seventh art, Cousins is a rarity amongst modern-day film critics.
His latest work, What Is This Film Called Love?, was ‘made for £ 5.80’ and shot over 3 days in Mexico. A meditation on the nature of happiness, it seems like a very personal film - a world away from the academic approach of The Story of Film (Cousins himself noted that he never used the word “I” in the commentary). It also features music by Blasted favourites PJ Harvey and Bernard Hermann.
You could do much worse then get down to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse on Thursday at 18.15 and see it for yourself, and maybe even ask the man himself a few questions.
You can read more about What Is This Film Called Love? here, and you can also follow Mr Cousins on Twitter.
Everyone knows that Savages are the most exciting band in Britain, and with little more than a 7", a live EP and a string of coruscating live performances (including an appearance on Later...with Jools Holland) to their name. They've just announced a short UK tour for May here. SAVAGES' superlative label, Pop Noire, has also announced the debut release from HTB:
"HTB is an improvisation trio by Johnny Hostile, Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth. Each piece of music is recorded with the members performing simultaneously in three separate rooms – Hostile and Thompson creating the natural soundtrack to Beth’s spoken words. In this context, the musicians only rely on what they hear and react to one another spontaneously. Each track was left exactly as it was performed. Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth are also members of the London quartet ‘SAVAGES‘. Johnny Hostile is a musician and producer who previously worked on LESCOP, SAVAGES and John & Jehn albums. Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile are co-founders of Pop Noire records."
To promote the forthcoming release a video of SAVAGES first trip to New York City, shot by Nathan Corbin, has been posted on YouTube. HTB's disorientating and atonal Brid contrasts with imagery from the shows with haunting results. All of Pop Noire's output thus far has been impeccable - HTB certainly look likely to follow suit. They play their debut gig on 27 March at Corsica Studios. As for SAVAGES... Well, we'll see you down the front at the Glasgow gig on 2 May.
Watch in 720p. 'Here is one director's take on the London band Savages - Nathan Corbin filmed the quartet on their first time in New York City, NY, 2012. Soundtrack : 'Brid' by Savages' side-project HTB (HostileThompsonBeth) - HTB is an improvisation trio by Johnny Hostile, Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth.'
On Saturday we went to see The Lyceum’s production of Shelagh Delaney’s play A Taste of Honey. There were some fine performances (particularly from Lucy Black, who plays Jo’s witty yet neglectful mother), but we left the theatre unconvinced: this was a fairly entertaining piece of work, but it didn’t have the freshness and resonance we had been hoping for. If anything, it reminded us how convincing Tony Richardson’s film version (from 1961) really was:
Jo feeling depressed. Geoff tries to help. Great scene from 'A Taste Of Honey' (1961). From the film by Tony Richardson. Based on the play by Shelagh Delaney. One of the best dramas to come out of the British New Wave/kitchen sink movement of the 1950's and 1960's.
Far from being the gritty, ‘kitchen sink’ drama it is often (and lazily) described as, the film manages to be a sharp and at times extremely funny portrait of how fragile relationships can really be. A talented and underrated writer (check out her other play The Lion in Love and her collection of short stories Sweetly Sings The Donkey), Shelagh Delaney was clearly a massive influence on the young Morrissey:
Música.
A Taste of Honey runs at The Lyceum until Saturday 9th February.
Influential (arguably, post-)punk band Wire announced late last year that they have a new album coming out on 25 March, entitled Change Becomes Us, on their own Pink Flag label. Their semi-namesake The Wire also reports that a ‘huge’ book - Wilson Neate's Read & Burn: A Book About Wire - is to be released the same month. Special bundles of the new album and book can be pre-ordered in a variety of combinations on Pink Flag’s webshop. There’s a preview of the new record, and a reminder of an old classic, below.
Track One from the forthcoming Wire album "Change Becomes Us"
In an act of contrition I lay down by your side It's not your place to comment On my state of distress For this is for real I've tears in my eyes Am I laughing or crying?
We’re sure you’ve all heard about the trouble that HMV has found itself in recently, and while it looks like it may yet survive, there’s been little mention of the fate of a shop beloved of many music and cinema fans – Fopp. A chain of music shops that began as a market stall in Glasgow in 1981, Fopp was bought by HMV in 2007 after rapid expansion led to them closing down. There’s a campaign on Facebook calling for the survival of Fopp, and its reinstatement as an independent chain (if that isn’t an oxymoron).
We might be suffering from intermittent reader’s block, but we are determined to carry on with our Ulysses challenge. We’ve put up with the unbearable Buck Mulligan, listened to Stephen Dedalus’ philosophical and political meanderings, and we are now getting to know ‘Ulysses’ himself, Leopold Bloom. We’ll keep you posted about our thoughts. In the meantime we’ll leave you with Paulo Coelho’s scathing attack, and this rather amusing (and in some ways reassuring) blog from The Spectator. Feel free to drop us a line to discuss the above article, the book or to join our challenge.
Time's a funny thing isn't it? it seems like hardly any time at all since the last brace of Freitags, and here we are again. It certainly doesn't seem like six years since the last album from (Aidan Moffat's pseudonymous electronica project) L. Pierre was released (Dip), but it's most cheering to see that the follow upThe Island Come True will be released on Monday through Melodic. The Quietus has a glut of articles related to its release, including an interview with the bearded bard, a stream of the album and an outstanding piece of writing from editor John Doran.
Lucky Pierre , From Album Touchpool
Stills and the CCA are co-hosting ECONOMY, a group exhibition focusing on the impact of global capitalist on our daily life. We are particularly interested in Stills' Film Lounge programme, showcasing work by Michael Glawogger (Austria), Francesco Jodice (Italy) and Maria Ruido (Spain).
Speaking of film, we are very excited about The Glasgow Film Festival. The festival only started in 2005 and had been growing steadily ever since. The full programme was announced yesterday - we have a staggering 368 events, 57 UK premieres and 6 world premieres to keep us entertained this February. The highlight for us could be Souvenirs of Serge, a documentary charting the relationship between Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. The film will be followed by a performance from Jane, who will be interpreting a few classics penned by the Gallic genius/provocateur. We are also attending a screening of Carl Dreyer’s stark and extremely powerful The Passion of Joan of Arc. A classic that deserves to be seen in a good cinema, and that cinema happens to be Glasgow Cathedral, a rather perfect setting. The GFF opens on 14th February with French comedy Populaire: we will be keeping an eye on it on a daily basis and report anything we find of interest. Watch this space.
Uploaded by None on 2009-05-04.
Song: Fratres - Arvo Part
Last year's Counterflows was a multi-venue event dedicated to underground music and art that occurred in Berlin, London and Glasgow simultaneously. The 2013 line-up for the Glasgow edition has just been announced for April and it's looking pretty special already. Particularly noteworthy are appearances by Peter Brötzmann and Loren Connors, but the most exciting announcement may well be that the ever-enigmatic Jandek will be playing with the superlative Richard Youngs and Alex Neilson at Stereo (Youngs and Neilson having backed Jandek at his first ever gig in 2004). See you down the front.
Music video by Christopher Zorker for Jandek's "You Standing There" off the 1998 album New Town.
Freitags #3. Every Friday we post links to news, articles, media, events and other assorted sources of distraction that we've unearthed through the week. This week features: Pierrot le Fou, Vertigo magazine on Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brody's Everything Is Cinema, Amour and Electric Sheep Magazine's interview with director Michael Haneke, a new video and tour dates from Veronica Falls, the announcement of Golden Grrrls debut LP on Night School and Slumberland, and a quick nod to this weekend's Neu! Reekie and VIC.ism events.
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