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My Top 10 CDs of 2002

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I was marveling at how awesome the line up was for the Coachella Festival this year, but it doesn't hold a candle up to Glastonbury.   NME has revealed the full line ups for this years 3-day outing in the middle of England.   You have Radiohead, I could just stop there, but I will go on.   Super Furry Animals (who have the unfortunate slot for being at the same time as Radiohead), Doves, Streets, Audio Bullys, Asian Dub Foundation, Flaming Lips, Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, The Roots, Athlete,  the Coral, Interpol, Grandaddy, the Rapture, James Lavelle, and on and on and on.   Amazing.    I love how tickets get sold out way before the line-up is announced.  I guess this year they got lucky.    Well every year the line-up is similarly awesome.  One day, God willing, I hope to attend.

posted by Fawaz at 3:43 PM

 

I've written a ton of stuff about the death of the great Joe Strummer, mainly because he was great and the Clash were an inspiring band. They stood for many things, mainly integrity. Since his death I've read quite a few tributes to him, including Tom Morello's, and many by fans with stories of how nice a guy Joe was when they met him and how they and Joe instantly became friends.  I found a great site: StrummerNews, that has many stories like that from fans and famous fans. Check it out.

posted by Fawaz at 1:39 PM

 
I found some movie news that I am very excited about.   M Night Shyamalan is in pre-production on his new movie.   I really loved his last three.   Each of them competed for my favorite movie of the corresponding year.   His movies seem to do really well at the box office but get really mixed reviews with my friends.  I love the tense feeling I get through when watching his movies, I really do find myself sitting at the edge of my seat.    Well anyway the news is that his new movie deals with mythical creatures that live in woods surrounding a 19th century rural community.   (Previous rumors had
his next movie dealing with ouiji boards.)   I'm glad that he is sticking with what seems like his forte.  The cast includes Kristen Dunst, Joaquin Phoenix, and Ashton Kutcher, who I think is hilarious on MTV's Punk'd

posted by Fawaz at 10:31 AM

 
From the excellent Onion.

posted by Fawaz at 4:01 PM

 
I've been getting into this Breakbeat DJ named Adam Freeland recently.   Not sure where I first heard about him, might have been a Breezeblock set he did that I downloaded.   Or maybe I heard something from him on Annie on One.  I am not really sure, but I am just happy I found him since he completely rocks.   Especially after I heard his Essential Mix from this past weekend (2003.05.11)  If you are at all interested click on this link and listen to it.  It'll be up there until next weeks mix - (sometime late Saturday night.)   I am waiting for Radio1 to publish the tracklisting, but from what I heard it had UNKLE's remix featuring Roots Manuva of DJ Shadow's 'GDMFSOB', some stuff from his labelmate ILS, some stuff from his new live outfit, Freeland, Radiohead's most excellent 'Idioteque', and a band who I always thought would sound great in a mix, Rage Against the Machine with 'Bullet in the Head.'  It also featured some bootleg mixes of Nirvana and The White Stripes.  It is quickly becoming on of my favorite mixes.   I guess it's not really representative of Adam's mixes since it has a lot of rock songs in it, but since I love rock that you can dance to I really dig this mix.   Make sure you also check out the record label that Adam heads up, Marine Parade.  Not only can you find an up to date discography, but you can download some excellent radio and club mixes from Adam and his labelmates.  The Essential Mix should be up there for download soon, and if you miss it from the Radio 1 Site or the Marine Parade site check out Freshly Mixed, a great site that archives Essential Mixes.  It's free, but make sure to contribute something to the site, if not money, some content. UPDATE: you can download and listen to a bunch of live mixes from Adam at this site.
posted by Fawaz at 11:02 AM

 
Check out some
amazing pics of Massive Attack at their 5 night sold-out stand at the Brixton Academy.   God, how I wish I could have seen one of those shows.

posted by Fawaz at 4:01 PM

 
MTV and MTV2 have put an end to 120 Minutes.  I've been watching it off and on (more off) since I was in Jr. High (for anyone that knows me that is a long ass time ago.)   I remember seeing my first Sugarcubes video - for "Birthday" and not being able to get over Bjork's voice.   I bought a lot of music based on bands whose videos looked cool and whose music sounded great.   I guess on the last show (which I missed) Dave Kendall and Matt Pinfield (little know fact: Matt produces Burnweed's CD, Burnweed, as in the author of onelovestroy) came in a hosted it.   Anyway to replace the show MTV2 have added a show called Subterranean and Subterranean UK on Friday nights.  I actually caught some of the show this week, the first hour, hosted by Jim Shearer, had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on.   It was cool to see some videos they usually don't show.  But I was most excited to watch the second hour since the UK at the end held the promise of showing some music that comes out of my favorite country.   Unfortunately this did not really pan out.   The host for this hour is Zane, a dude I first saw interview Badly Drawn Boy on the most excellent extra feature on the most excellent About a Boy DVD.   At first I wasn't sure what to make of him, he did kinda kiss Damon's ass in the interview, but he really knew his stuff.  I guess if I was in his position I would kiss his ass too since he is a great artist.   Watching him on the show he was much better since he almost had a spoken word quality to his introductions to the videos.  And I found most of his intros hilarious.  The unfortunate thing was the video selections, first they started off with "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes.  Not only are they not English, but anyone can see this video since MTV2 plays it quite often.  Next up is "Chicken" by 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster, not a video, song, or band I really care for.  I did see them listed on a list of Zane's best releases from 2002 though.  Anyway big deal, I cannot expect every video for them to play something I like.   Next up was the Darkness, I've seen pictures of this band, and they are indeed scary, image seeing a young skinny Lemmy dressed in a tight backless body suit circa Rod Stewart in 1975.   But then imagine his voice sounding like a dying chicken and the band sounding like a heavy metal version of Rod Stewarts backing band circa 1975.   One of the worst videos and bands I have ever seen.  OK, I thought, one more chance before I give up on this nights show.  Next up is Har Mar Superstar, who again is not English, and who again sucks.   So even though Zane had said Audio Bullys and Badly Drawn Boy were coming up I turned it off in favor of watching the Matrix in preparing for Thursday.   I wish they would publish the videos online before they played them then I would know if I wanted to watch the show or not.
posted by Fawaz at 2:23 PM

 

Upcoming shows- Deftones are joining the long list of bands that do a short club tour around the release of their CD before they go on a proper tour of arenas, stadiums, or whatever cavernous places bands usually play.   Check out the dates here.  Pre-sale go on sale very soon.  Also check this site to hear their new single and see it's accompanying video for 'Minerva'.    The new self-titled CD is out on May 20th. I've read that they are keeping close guard on the CD so that it's not all over P2P networks early.  They seemed to have done a good job, although 3 tracks have leaked.

"US Guerilla Tour Dates"
04-May / Washington, DC / 9:30 Clib
05-May / New York / Webster Hall
06-May / Boston / Axis
08-May / Detroit / St Andrews Hall
10-May / Cleveland / The Odeon
11-May / Chicago / The Metro



the Tracklisting
01 - "Hexagram"
02 - "Needles And Pins"
03 - "Minerva"
04 - "Good Morning Beautiful"
05 - "Deathblow"
06 - "When Girls Telephone Boys"
07 - "Battle Axe"
08 - "Lucky You"
09 - "Bloody Cape"
10 - "Anniversary Of An Uninteresting Event"
11 - "Moana"
posted by Fawaz at 1:48 PM

 

OK, I'm sore that I missed Coachella this weekend, hopefully, God willing, next year I will be there and there ill
be a great line up like the one I missed this year.  Reviews of the bands have been trickling out.  Some of the bloggers whose websites I check on a almost daily basis attended this year.   Here is was melodynelson and boltofblue had to say. And it looks like two of favorite blog sites added their reviews too. Check 'em out at themodernage and braquage. 

Don't know much about Coachella? 
Well here is a list of bands that I would have seen, if I was there.

Saturday:
South
Idlewild
The Rapture
Badly Drawn Boy
Blur
Queens of the Stone Age
Dillinja and Lemon D
The Beastie Boys

Sunday:
FC Kahuna
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Polyphonic Spree
The Mars Volta
Sonic Youth
Primal Scream
The White Stripes
Underworld
Interpol

For you mix fans check out Ninja Tune's Solid Steel Radio show. Nice thing about this is that you can listen online (more recent old ones are archived) and they have complete and correct tracklistings.

posted by Fawaz at 1:06 PM

 

From the Bluetones site info on their new CD "Luxembourg" being released on May 12th (of course not in the US, where only their first, and in my opinoin best CD was released).  

The Bluetones are to release their fourth studio album, ‘Luxembourg’, on May 12th 2003 through Superior Quality Recordings/ Vital. The album follows the release of the double a-side ‘Fast Boy/ Liquid Lips’ on April 21st.

Produced by the band and Gordon Mills at Raezor Studios in Wandsworth, ‘Luxembourg’ was recorded after the release of their Singles album last year. Three years on from ‘Science and Nature’, the new material denotes a radical change in direction for The Bluetones. With a more basic approach to songwriting, Mark Morriss says that the album is "completely different to anything we’ve ever done before". 

Calling in at just under 35 minutes, the ten tracks are stripped down, raw and more immediate than any of their previous work. ‘Here It Comes Again’ is a fast and furious blast to kick off the proceedings, whilst ‘Never Going Nowhere’ is one of the best songs The Bluetones have ever written. 

Tracklisting and comments from Mark Morriss; 

Here It Comes Again ‘Devo meet The Ramones in Dion’s fish and chip shop. A fight ensues. Against the odds Dion wins.’ 

Fast Boy ‘In the 60s we had the Velvets ‘Waiting For My Man’, the 70’s Clapton’s ‘Cocaine’, the 80s ‘White Lines’, the 90s ‘Ebeneezer Goode’ and now for a new century a new song about drugs.’ 

Liquid Lips ‘The band wanted to write a song that would give Sultans of Swing a run for its money as most requested track at Acton Working Man’s Club. They still want to.’ 

You’re No Fun Anymore ‘What happens when the spark goes out of S&M loving? Are satsumas a valid sex aid? These questions and more answered in just over 3 minutes.’ 

Big Problem ‘Man is reaching a crucial junction in his evolution and The Bluetones are a band horribly aware of this’. 

I Love The City ‘A song for people who enjoy petrol fumes, litter, over-crowding and very bad smells.’ 

Never Going Nowhere ‘In a world seemingly overfilled with positivity, The Bluetones serve up an awesome double negative. 

Little Bear ‘Star-gazing and mortality are the order of the day on this feisty little number. Strap yourself in as the boys let rip on this mini epic.’ 

Code Blue ‘This is not a protest song. Nor is it a call to arms. It is a song about un-channelled idiocy.’ 

Turn It Up If Dante’s Inferno were written as a Christmas cracker joke, if The Wizard of OZ were shot on Super 8, if the pyramids were made of Lego then they would be perfect kissing cousins to the album’s coda. However…’ 

‘Luxembourg’ will be released on May 12th 2003. The single, ‘Fast Boy/ Liquid Lips’, preceeds the album on April 21st. The Bluetones are currently on a fifty date tour of the UK taking them everywhere from Penzance to Ullapool. The tour culminates with a headline gig at London Astoria on May 22nd.



Check out their video to the newest single here.

posted by Fawaz at 2:19 PM