The Last Shadow Puppets

The Puppets have moved from 9 to 6 on the CMJ music charts and NME has given the band a very positive review 8 out of 10. If you are expecting Alex Turner's side project from the Arctic Monkeys to knock you over with the same in your face rock and roll you may be disappointed. When I heard "My Mistakes Were Made For You" I did not make the connection to the Artic Monkeys. The song however quickly became one of my favorites. This is a mellow album with a lounge feel to it. No head banging, no fist pumping but the music is good and I recommend giving it a listen.


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Wikipedia:

The Last Shadow Puppets is a side project of Alex Turner of Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of Liverpool band The Rascals.

History

In August 2007 NME reported that Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner and lead singer of then newly formed The Rascals, Miles Kane would be recording an album with James Ford producing and playing drums.[1] Turner & Kane became friends when Kane's previous band The Little Flames played support for Arctic Monkeys on their May/June 2005 UK tour. The Little Flames also supported Arctic Monkeys on their April 2007 UK tour, when Turner and Kane wrote songs together for a collaborative project.[2] Their collaboration extends into Arctic Monkeys material, with Kane playing guitar on "505", the closing track of second Arctic Monkeys album Favourite Worst Nightmare and on "Fluorescent Adolescent" b-sides "The Bakery" and "Plastic Tramp". Kane also guested on "505" or "Plastic Tramp" at several Arctic Monkeys gigs in 2007, including the summer mini-festivals at Lancashire County Cricket Club and Arctic Monkeys' 2007 appearance at Glastonbury.

The initial recording of the record took place in France in late August with additional material added between August and December. In December Owen Pallett was appointed to arrange the strings, brass and percussion for the album with the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra. During the recording of the album Turner and Kane hired a documentary film-making team to capture the story of the project.[3]

On 20 February 2008, the duo revealed they would be known as The Last Shadow Puppets and that their album would be titled The Age of the Understatement and be released on 21 April 2008. The first single, "The Age of the Understatement" would be released the week before on April 14, with new song "Two Hearts in Two Weeks" and covers of Billy Fury's "Wondrous Place" and David Bowie's "In the Heat of the Morning" (a song previously mentioned by Turner as a favourite[4]) as b-sides.[5] The duo have said they took inspiration from Scott Walker and early Bowie.

The band played their first ever show in Brooklyn, New York at Sound Records on 4 March 2008,[6] playing a second gig at the Lower East Side's Cake Shop the following night.[7]

The Last Shadow Puppets played a short two song set on 5 April at the Lock Tavern in Camden, London. They played "Meeting Place" and "Standing Next To Me" in support of Remi Nicole, who organised the party both to celebrate her birthday and to raise money for MS sufferers. The band have also performed on Jools Holland's show Later... with Jools Holland, with producer James Ford on drums and Owen Pallett conducting the string accompaniment. The band will not tour until October 2008, apart from featuring at Reading and Leeds Festival 2008, because of Kane’s commitments to his band The Rascals as they will be touring to promote their debut album, Rascalize.[8] Also Turner has reportedly clashed with the record label over who would pay for the 16 piece orchestra if they were to go on tour. [9]

The next single will be "Standing Next to Me" and will be released on July 7, 2008.[10]

Kane has said in an interview with The Sun that The Last Shadow Puppets will be looking to record new material in 2009.

Here is a accoustic video of "My Mistakes Were Made For You":



Ladytron

I generally stay away from publishing negative articles about bands but not much has caught my ear that I like this week. I noticed that Ladytron jumped from 99 to 17 on the CMJ charts and felt it was something I should check out. I-tunes has the college kids downloading Tomorrow and Ghost from their new album Velocifero. The music is described as electro-pop and has a slightly dark feel to it. There are two kinds of songs, those which rock and those which do not rock. These songs do not rock. I am a guitar guy but have posted positive things about non-guitar bands in the past. Take a listen for yourself and make up your own mind.


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Wikipedia:

Ladytron is an electronic pop/electroclash[1] band originally based in Liverpool, England, although members originate from Sofia and Glasgow as well as Liverpool itself. The band has been active since 1999, releasing three full-length albums, with a fourth—Velocifero—released in May 2008 through the Nettwerk label. Ladytron tours extensively around the world, both with live shows and DJ sets.

Background

Ladytron formed in the summer of 1999, Wu and Hunt already being friends, and meeting Marnie and Aroyo.

They began recording tracks for their debut album, 604, shortly after. The album was released in early 2001 on the Emperor Norton/Invicta HIFI labels to critical acclaim, by which time their single "Playgirl" was bringing them some national and international attention.

The follow up, Light & Magic, was released in Autumn 2002 to wider exposure, and spawned the underground hits "Seventeen", "Evil", and "Blue Jeans". Following 18 months on tour supporting that album, they recorded their third album, Witching Hour, in early 2004. The album was released in 2005, along with two singles, including "Destroy Everything You Touch".

Ladytron has a cult audience worldwide and toured extensively in support of Witching Hour from mid-2005 to mid-2007. Across Europe, they opened for Nine Inch Nails in early 2007 at the invitation of Trent Reznor.

The band finished work on their fourth studio album, Velocifero, in February 2008.[2] It was released in the US on June 3, and contains 13 tracks. Velocifero was recorded in Paris, with the band handling production duties and some collaboration with Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) and Vicarious Bliss (Justice, DJ Mehdi).[3]

Ladytron and Rob Gutmann have a joint venture of the Korova Bar. [4]


Style

Ladytron makes electronic pop music, using an array of vintage analogue equipment to achieve its distinct sound. Albums so far have focused on a balance between pop structures and digitally edited analogue electronic sound, along with some more experimental leanings. All four members write songs differently, which adds to the eclectic nature of their albums. Their third album, Witching Hour, saw an augmentation of their sound, leading the album to be described by Pitchfork as a "quantum leap record".[2]

Russian Circles

Station is the second album from Russian Circles. The music is dramatic, similar to Muse without the vocals. Pitchfork gives it a 6.9 out of 10. The reviewer felt that the music “begs for vocals.” I agree but if you’re going to add the traditional screaming metal lead singer I would prefer they not change a thing. Russian Circles in my opinion is metal for those us who don’t enjoy the traditional metal lead singers.


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Wikipedia:

Russian Circles is a three piece instrumental rock/metal band from Chicago. Similar to fellow Chicago residents Pelican, Russian Circles play epic, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal, to soft delicate passages. They are also known for their energetic live shows, which include tours with Minus the Bear, Chin Up Chin Up, Coheed & Cambria, Mono, and Pelican as well as an appearance at the 2006 SXSW.[1]. They were also the opening band for Tool while playing in the United Kingdom for their 2007 tour.

History

Formed in late 2004 by guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper (both formerly of another instrumental band Dakota/Dakota) they quickly recruited Dave Turncrantz, formerly of St. Louis band Riddle of Steel.
In the autumn of 2007, it was announced that the band had parted ways with Colin DeKuiper. As a result, the bass tracks on their new album, titled Station, will be handled by ex-Botch/These Arms Are Snakes bass player Brian Cook.[2]

Sound

When performing live, the band is noted for being able to replicate and even expand upon their recorded material through Sullivan and DeKuiper's use of sampling and loop pedals.

Spiritualized

May 27th Spiritualized came out with their new album Songs in A & E. After 5 years without new work the album is getting much hype. I have only been able to locate one new song on seeqpod. It is Soul on Fire and the first track in the que below. The Pitchfork review gives the album an 8.4 rating out of 10 which was enough to slot them in their best new music section. The following is a qoute from the Pitchfork review:

"Pierce is again walking mopey, orchestral, minimalist rock out to the margins of taste and messing with your head all over the place. And this time he does it with a shit-ton of sonic subtlety."

NME gives the ablum 8 out of a possible 10, a very similar rating. The review gives very high praise to the album. The comments found by readers indicate a strong disagreement with the 8 rating. They are demanding a perfect 10.


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Wikipedia:

Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (who often goes by the alias J. Spaceman) after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3. The membership of Spiritualized has changed from album to album, with Pierce - who writes, composes and sings all of the band's material - being the only constant member. Spiritualized have released five studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these was 1997's Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, which NME Magazine made their Album of the Year.

[edit] Biography

Jason Pierce, 1998Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with Dedicated Records.

The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).

Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP Lazer Guided Melodies, which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, Pure Phase, was released in 1995, and a third Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.

The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modelled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, Let It Come Down which included over 120 musicians. Amazing Grace favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.

After several years of work and a serious illness on Pierce's part in July 2005 [1], the forthcoming Spiritualized album was completed in September 2007 and is scheduled for an early 2008 release. [2] Pierce has also scored Harmony Korine's 2008 film Mister Lonely. ' On 21 February 2008, it was announced that the latest Spiritualized album is to be titled Songs in A&E and will contain 18 tracks. It will be released on May 26, 2008 in the UK, and on May 27, 2008 in the US. The first single from the album will be "Soul On Fire". The release will be backed by an Electric Mainlines UK tour in May.

Pierce is quoted as saying in a 2008 interview that Spiritualized was scheduled to play the CERN collider. "They asked us to do it! We were gonna play in it before they’d thrown the switch. But it was a timing thing—their timings didn’t coincide with ours."[3]


[edit] Band members

Jason Pierce, 1998Only Pierce remains from the original line-up of the band. Will Carruthers left the band in 1992 and now records as a solo project under the name Freelovebabies, Carruthers was replaced by Rugby musician Sean Cook from local band Electrahead. Mark Refoy departed in 1994 to concentrate on his own fronted band Slipstream. He was initially replaced by Kevin Cowen from fellow Rugby band The Darkside, before Cowen himself left to be replaced first by John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Betty Boo) and then later on by Julian Cope's former guitarist Michael Mooney (Coxon returned to replace Mooney following his eventual departure). Mattock played in The Breeders for a spell (during a lull in Spiritualized activities in 1991, he appears on the Safari EP) and left Spiritualized later in 1994 following the recording of Pure Phase, working as a session musician before joining Lupine Howl, he was replaced by Damon Reece. Kate Radley appeared for some initial dates promoting Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, before leaving the band in 1997 with a reported unspecified illness. ( Radley had married The Verve's singer Richard Ashcroft in 1995, however after a period apart, she had returned to Ashcroft by the time of her illness). Kate was replaced by Thighpaulsandra from Julian Cope's band Queen Elizabeth. Sax player Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty was added to the lineup in 1997, and Gregg Hale (guitar) also augmented the band in 1997 and 1998.

Following promotional activity for Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over low salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, Messrs Cook, Reece and Mooney formed the ill-starred Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, quitting to play in the free-jazz Solar Fire Trio.

Retaining only keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Jason Pierce then debuted a new (and current) line up of Spiritualized, introducing classical percussionist Tom Edwards and former Julian Cope string arranger Martin Schellard on bass guitar. Completing the new Spiritualized line-up were guitarist Doggen of Brain Donor and the Julian Cope band, and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales, who is also ex-Julian Cope band. This line-up is currently has recently finished recording their newest album Songs In A&E in Nottingham and London.

Johnny Foreigner


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Noisey Pop is how Johnny Foreigner describe themselves. I like noisey guitar pop. So does NME. They gave the new album "Waited up 'til it was light" a score of 8 of a possible 10. The album is available today on June 2nd. Johnny Foreigner is a three piece from Birmingham England. The songs our loaded with energy. It's a thumbs up from The Pants

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