MULATU ASTATKE & THE HELIOCENTRICS TOUR 2010

New Mulatu album listen here



New tour dates listing

30.03.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Festival Chorus des Hauts de Seine,Paris
03.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Banlieues Bleues,Paris
08.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Tivoli, Utrecht
09.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Motel Mozaique Festival, Rotterdam
10.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ TRIX, Antwerp
12.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Paradis Artificiel, Lille
14.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Principal Club, Thessaloniki
17.04.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Fuzz Club, Athens
22.05.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Territorios, Sevilla
26.05.10 Mulatu Astatke @ Nattjazz, Bergen
29.05.10 Mulatu Astatke @ Novara Jazz Festival, Novara
01.07.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Ljubljana
09.07.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Jazz a Vienne, Vienne
22.07.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ San Sebastian Jazz Festival, San Sebastian
29.07.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Noe Festival, Krems
31.07.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Dromos Festival, Sardinia
29.09.10 Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics @ Barbican, London


OLD TOUR DATES LISTING


Mar 26 Ghent, Belgium Ghent, Belgium @ Minnemeers
Mar 27 Amsterdam, Holland Amsterdam, Holland @ Paradiso
Mar 28 Cologne, Germany Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
Mar 30 Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt, Germany @ Sinkkasten
Apr 1 Berlin Germany Berlin Germany @ Lido
Apr 4 Helsinki, Finland Helsinki, Finland @ Kulttuuroitalo
Apr 8 Florence, Italy Florence, Italy @ Auditorium Flog
Apr 9 Rome, Italy Rome @ Circolo degli Artisti
Apr 10 Geneva, Switzerland Electron Festival @ L'Alhambra Theatre
Apr 11 Paris, France Paris, France @ Casino Nouveau
May 20 London, England London, England @ Koko

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor - new LP

Titus Andronicus to publish second album on 9 March 2010.

The record will be a concept album about the US Civil War. It will be released on the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, during which the ship USS Monitor confronted the confederate ship C.S.S. Virginia off the coast of Virginia.

Tracklist:

01 A More Perfect Union

02 Titus Andronicus Forever

03 No Future Part Three Escape From No Future

04 Richard II

05 A Pot In Which To Piss

06 Four Score And Seven

07 Theme From Cheers

08 To Old Friends And New

09 …And Ever

10 The Battle Of Hampton Roads

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - New EP + Tour dates

From Band statement

"As you may have guessed, it will feature the song Nitetime Rainbows from our recent album, Ashes Grammar. The mix of this song had always troubled Josh and I and we were excited to have a chance to remix it, however sligtly. The end result will probably sound no different to anyone but Josh or I, but it is a new mix and we love how it sounds. Also on the EP will be three new songs. These are all songs we started recording during the Ashes Grammar sessions but songs we didn't get to finish in time to make it on to that album. "


NITETIME RAINBOWS EP — Out on March 2, 2010
clear vinyl 12″/ digital download only

A1 Nitetime rainbows (new mix)
A2 Daytime rainbows
A3 So bloody, so tight
A4 Piano Lessons

B1 Nitetime rainbows (Buddy System remix)
B2 Nitetime rainbows (Acid wash edit by Benoit Pioulard)
B3 Nitetime rainbows (Ezekiel Honig remix)

SPRING TOUR 2010

2/26 - New York City, NY - Mercury Lounge

plus other dates rest of March

Euro tour dates

4/8 - Paris, France - Faites Danser Les Garcons @ Point Ephemere
4/24 - Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
4/29 - Dijon, France - Kill Your Pop Festival
5/3 - Prague, Czech Republic - Klub 007
5/12 - Brussels, Belgium - Les Nuits Botanique Festival
5/15 - Glasgow, Scotland - Nice N Sleazys
5/17 - Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
5/18 - Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
5/19 - Liverpool, England - Sound City Festival
5/20 - London, England - Luminaire

NB - 12'" EPs will be sold on tour

Listen to CONTRA !!!!

SPOON - Transference

New studio album available January 18 (Europe) and January 19 (US).

The album is streaming in its entirety at NPR here

Spoon will be touring the US with Deerhunter, and alternatively The Strange Boys and Micachu and the Shapes.

A date is planned at NYC Radio City Music Hall on 3/26.

In February Spoon has some dates in Europe with The White Rabbits

Feb 14 - Glasgow, Scotland at King Tuts
Feb 15 - Manchester, UK at Academy 3
Feb 16 - London, UK at Electric Ballroom
Feb 18 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands at Paradiso
Feb 19 - Cologne, Germany at Luxor
Feb 20 - Berlin, Germany at Frannz Club

These New Puritans - Hidden

These New Puritans to release new album titled "Hidden" on 18 January

The album is streamed on Myspace here

See video of the first single We want war



The production is clearly aiming at big sound here: brass ensemble, Japanese drums, children choir, swords, smashed heads (simulated)... that's what I call raising the bar. In fact at first listen the album sounds a bit like Divine Comedy meets Leftfield meets Ghost Dog mish mash. I

don't know if this is supposed to be what the sound of 2010 looks like.

First impression is that big drums become quickly tiring and, with the rest of production, they drown the songs which lack strong substance of their own.

But I reserve my opinion for when I will have seen their gig.

From press release:

"the album draws equally on on the rhythmic lexicons of dancehall and 20th century post-minimalism, with instrumentation redolent of both the oceanic brass of benjamin britten's peter grimes and the plastic textures of modern us pop. it is sometimes brutal, sometimes melancholy, and sounds like nothing else.

'hidden' features six-foot japanese taiko drums, a thirteen piece brass and woodwind ensemble, sub-heavy beats, prepared piano, a children's choir, foley recording techniques (including a melon with cream crackers attached struck by a hammer, used to simulate the sound of a human head being smashed), and the ethereal voice of heather marlatt from dream-pop group Salem."


Nota Bene: Pre-order of the LP version of the album will be signed by band members

Dubstep Rocks !!!!

Waiting for You, the debut full-length from King Midas Sound, the trio of producer Kevin "The Bug" Martin, poet/vocalist Roger Robinson, and vocalist Hitomi.

More sedated version of the Bug.

File along with Kode9 and SpaceApe, Skream, Burial, Martyn (?)

Forget about Heligoland...

Africa Rocks !!!!!!

Maybe, I am the only one who had not noticed this so far but there's a tsunami of African music revival. Possibly on the wake of the Vampire's success, it consist in reissues of records that were actually never released outside their respective countries/regions in first place.

So like the Russians after the fall of the Berlin wall, we are discovering the music of the 60's and 70's consisting in:

- Nigerian Funk/rock and disco on Soundways

- Nigeria 70 on Strut

- the "legends of Benin" and the truly incredible Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou (on Analog Africa)

- Ethiopian Jazz through Ethiopique and in particular Mulatu Astatke on Strut

- Ghana Specials and Ghana Soundz on Soundways

- etc., etc.

Egypt Rocks !!!!

This posting is mostly about Omar Khorsid.

You can learn about his life and music at this site

I discovered his music during a trip to Cairo in the previous century. I heard the music in the street and immediately got me the tape. Since then I haven't been able to find other recordings (physical of course) .

In the current fashion of reissues of lost recordings, this seem yet to be covered.

However, Korshid get a sort of make over through the capable hands of Sir Richard Bishop who recently released a album The Freak of Araby, which pays more than a tribute to Khorsid's style.

Bishop is touring Europe (mostly) in February (check listing at his site here).

Iran Rocks !!!!

Recently we have seen the movie Nobody Knows About Persian Cats (see trailer below)



My take on the movie is that it is quite interesting and entertaining. The movie is a faux-documentary with a plot based on real situations. Basically the two main actors are a boy-girl sort of band that sound like Belle et Sebastien. They are supposed to reenact situations that they have experienced in real life and to have fled the country as the movie was finished or actually the other way around the movie was completed because they had to go.

The movie is in fact an excuse to present various contemporary bands in a range of genres, the main focus being on indie rock, but it features also more traditional, metal, even rap acts. The interest of the bands vary, and quite frankly most, and especially those mimicking western genres, are nothing special.

Another point is whether this would work better as a documentary as some of the characters look a bit as caricatures (eg the manager) and some situations are a bit cliches. Although, the plot formula vs the documentary has the added interest of describing the everyday life of young people in present day Teheran. This may explain the interest it has generated at the Cannes festival and in Europe more generally.

Here I would like to make a couple of remarks 1) the situations described in the movie affect only some of the most affluent part of the society and 2) if the tribulations that the young characters experience just to have a band and play a concert would appear rather mundane given the present local situation.

In this sense, while the movie has many merits (among other the mere fact of existing at all...), it leave the impression that those young people are interested in change mostly to conform to foreign or mostly western cultural models, that it concern mostly an educated urban middle class and maybe they do not appear very motivated in changing their lot, apart from escaping either abroad or through dreams and other substances.

To some extend they appear quite naive as they are willing to take risks and incur in costs that seem totally disproportionate with what is at stakes.

Another paradox is that the soundtrack is not available anywhere, while Raks Raks Raks, an equivalent of Nuggets has been released last (2009) year concerning Iranian psych and garage scene of the 60's.










see also this article on the same subject here

for additional background, there is a quite detailed article on Wikipedia on rock and alternative music in Iran here