Monthly Archives: June 2016

The return of Teenage Fanclub

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Teenage Fanclub have announced that they will release Here, their first album in six years, and their tenth overall, on September 9.

The follow-up to 2010’s Shadows, Here was recorded at Vega in rural Provence and at Raymond McGinley’s home in Glasgow before being mixed at Clouds Hill in the industrial heart of Hamburg.

Norman Blake: “Shadows came after a five-year gap; this one is coming after a six-year gap. Getting back together to work, even after all these years, does feel a lot like coming home. Thinking about it now, we really should get together a bit more often.”

The album tracklisting is as follows:

1. I’m In Love
2. Thin Air
3. Hold On
4. The Darkest Part Of The Night
5. I Have Nothing More To Say
6. I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive
7. The First Sight
8. Live In The Moment
9. Steady State
10. It’s A Sign
11. With You
12. Connected To Life

A song for today #32: Arab Strap vs. Miaoux Miaoux

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I’m really very cheered by the news that Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton have united again as Arab Strap, and that they are gigging later this year. Not so chuffed that the Glasgow gig has sold out already, but hey.

I got the chance to interview Aidan Moffat the other day – which should be appearing soon on God Is In The TV, and their awesome 1996 debut single ‘The First Big Weekend’ has been remixed by Miaoux Miaoux, who I have also featured on the blog before. Check it out below:

…and while you wait for my Aidan Moffat interview, you can read the interview I did with Malcolm Middleton in 2007.

Update: The Aidan Moffat interview is now live on God Is In The TV

A song for today #31: Aphex Twin

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Aphex Twin

Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin, will release the Cheetah EP on Warp on July 7.

The tracklisting for the EP is as follows:

1.CHEETAHT2 [Ld spectrum]
2.CHEETAHT7b
3.CHEETA1b ms800
4.CHEETA2 ms800
5.CIRKLON3 [ ????????? mix ]
6.CIRKLON 1
7.2X202-ST5 (Digital Bonus Track)

A video for the track ‘CIRKLON3 [ ????????? mix ]’ has been unveiled, the first music video for an Aphex Twin track since ‘Windowlicker’ in 1999. It was directed by Ryan Wyer, aged 12, from Co. Dublin. The video contains visual motifs similar to the Aphex Twin videos directed by Chris Cunningham in the 1990s, and the track shows an influence of computer games…

A song for today #30: John Grant, Budgie and Kylie Minogue

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I’ve always rather enjoyed seemingly incongruous musical meetings. And thus it came to pass that earlier this week, John Grant with Budgie (former drummer for Big in Japan, the Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees/The Creatures) were joined on stage by Kylie Minogue for a performance of ‘Glacier.’

I came across this in the Siouxsie and the Banshees facebook group – many thanks to Costas who edited this from four versions and shared this. Of course, it’s not the first time Kylie has collaborated with artists from seemingly more leftfield backgrounds than hers – the Pet Shop Boys, Manic Street Preachers and of course, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds


BUDGIE with JOHN GRANT & KYLIE MINOGUE… by zoot1969

The return of the Avalanches

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I recently returned from a trip to Australia (as I may have mentioned). Whilst I was there I picked up various new artists I hadn’t heard before, and when in Melbourne checked out quite a few record shops. Melbourne apparently is expecting several new record shops to open this year. I couldn’t resist asking the folks running the stores if they knew anything about a new Avalanches record. And all I got in return were wry smiles.

But now I’m back on the other side of the world, and the Avalanches have announced that they will release their second Wildflower on July 8. This is a mere fifteen years since their debut Since I Left You, which was both a critical and commercial hit in 2001.

The first single from the album is ‘Frankie Sinatra’ which suggests – in the best possible way- that the band have picked up where they left off, in terms of producing catchy songs using cut and paste approach to music and making weird and wonderful videos.

The single features contributions from Danny Brown and MF Doom, as well as sampling ‘My Favourite Things’ from The Sound of Music. The album will also feature contributions from Jennifer Herrema, Warren Ellis and Father John Misty, amongst others.