Weekly Round Up (30 Mar 2009)

Welcome to the latest batch of interesting (?) new stories from the music world.

Top Stories
Revolutionaries Manic Street Preachers have stopped the British National Party from using their 1998 Number 1 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next', after the far-right political party used the track as the backing for a video titled 'The Cesspit Called London' on their website and on a YouTube account without seeking permission to do so. The material was removed after SonyBMG, the band's label, issued a cease and desist order.

Ironically, the lyrics to that song concern the International Brigade – the group of volunteers who went to Spain to fight Franco's fascist ranks in the Spanish Civil War. Another example of the BNP's ignorance.

Back in the "cesspit", organisers of a campaign aiming to ensure that a suitable replacement is built for the London Astoria, which was forced to close in the name of urban development in January, held a rally outside the venue last Saturday.

Campaigners were asked to take their iPods with them in order to have a silent disco directly outside the venue, due for imminent demolition.

A campaign petition has now been signed by over 1,000 people, while the campaigners' official Facebook page has over 3,000 members.

Back in the 'Pool, Some of the city's best known musicians have teamed up with Liverpool players to honour the Hillsborough disaster, which "celebrates" its 20th anniversary in April.

Musicians including John Power (The La's, Cast), Peter Hooton (The Farm), Nick Kilroe (Echo And The Bunnymen) and Rob Taylor (The Troubadours) have recorded an updated version of Irish folk song and fans' favourite 'Fields Of Athernry'.

The song, which has been renamed 'Fields Of Anfield Road', also features vocals from the 'Kop Choir', made up of past players including Kenny Dalglish, Phil Thompson, John Aldridge, and Bruce Grobbelaar.

Speaking of the single, Hooton said he wants the track to be seen as a tribute.

"A lot of people have volunteered to get involved," he said. "It is a reworking of a Kop classic and I hope it raises awareness of the Hillsborough disaster and is a fitting tribute to the 96 and the survivors."

Starsailor frontman James Walsh, a big Liverpool fan, also appears on the track.

As a member of the "Blue half", I wish the project the very best. I was unfortunate to be around at the time and hope this serves as a deserved tribute to all those who were affected.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.

Myspace Magic
Plenty happening on Myspace this week, in fact too much to summarise here. With no disrespect to the rest, the picks of the week are Loveday Fools, a band who will appear on this page in the next week or so and who have uploaded another new track to their page this week. 'The Year I Started Smoking' confirms their ability to bang out a quality melody. (And thanks for sending me a sneak preview, gents!).

Fellow friends, Alexis Blue, also uploaded some new sounds. Their debut album is available on a free download from their page. I seriously recommend a visit and listen.

Following the latest Myspace Magic interview with midlanders The Scholars, the lads have informed me that their demo album 'Turbulence', mentioned in the article, is available for full streaming on LastFM at the following link:

http://www.last.fm/music/the+scholars/turbulence

You can read the full interview here (shame on you if you haven't already!)

And finally, congratulations to Londoners We Have Band, who have won the Emerging Bands competition organised by the Glastonbury festival. The lucky gits will be on one of the main stages during the festival.

Reviews
No particularly important releases this week. Still pending is a write-up of 'Klang' by The Rakes, and a summary of this months top albums will appear soon.

Festival Fever
In the light of Los Planetas' cancellation ahead of this year's SOS 4.8 festival, the organisers have been quick to confirm Maximo Park as replacement and have also rescheduled the programme a little. Spiritualized have now moved from the Friday (May 1) to the Saturday, while the aforementioned Maximo Park will play the main stage on the opening night. You can check out the complete listings here.


Up the road, Benicassim's classic FIB festival announced more confirmed acts to accompany headline acts Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, Kings Of Leon and The Killers. The latest additions are Lily Allen (oh well!), Glasvegas and Mystery Jets. Other confirmed acts included TV On The Radio, Fight Like Apes and Late Of The Pier. Again, more information is available on the official webpage.

More next week.


Read all NME-E News

Weekly Round Up (02 Feb 2009)

Hi everybody. Things have been a bit slack this week, but have plenty of things to be going on with. To start with, a round up of the week's news.

Reviews
This week's major release has been Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. A full review will appear in the next couple of days.

Myspace Magic
It's been a relatively quiet week for me on myspace. Scouse power trio We Make Models have added further tracks "Fishing For Ice", "The Girl That Got Away" and a new mix of "So Much" ahead of their next gig at the Liverpool O2 Academy on 18 February (where they'll be supporting Metropolitans).

Would also like to thank Murcian gents, Second, for their kind words of appreciation following my review of their new release 'Fracciones De Un Segundo' (just keeps on getting better the more I listen to it) and US boys, The Rocks, for doing their bit to promote this blog - thanks!

Festival Fever
Line-ups for Spain's top festivals are now starting to be confirmed, at least in terms of headline bands. THE festival par excellence FIB (Benicassim, 16-19 July) has announced that Oasis, Kings Of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and Paul Weller will all be gracing the stage this summer.

On hearing this I started to wonder why Murcia's SOS 4.8 was taking so long tell us what they had to offer (given that the festival is in May). They must have read my mind as they started to announce their confirmed acts this week. I use the term 'announce' in the broadest sense of the word, as the organisers had the totally frustrating (or brilliantly creative, if you're a masochist) idea of posting a series of riddles on the official web page and inviting surfers to work out the bands for themselves. Oh what fun! Christ, gives us the list and let us know whether to get our tickets now or head for the beach during the May bank holiday weekend!

Fortunately for me, my mate JuanFra (bless him) told me of a link (hipersonica.com), which had the answers all worked out for us. Much to my surprise, the festival is going to live up to expectations and build on last year's debut success. Spiritualized, Babyshambles, PJ Harvey, Those Dancing Days, Los Planetas, Russian Red and El Guincho (no idea!) is a very promising start and infinitely better than my rumour (Pet Shop Boys), although perhaps the most exciting band is still to be confirmed. If our riddle solving skills are up to scratch, it would appear the The Wombats will be in town. Now THAT is exciting. We will watch this space!

More news next week!

The Party's Over

In Spanish ya se acabó la fiesta which all fans of Spanish band (artist?) DELUXE will recognise as the opening line to the track 'Hay colillas en el suelo' ('There are cigarette ends on the floor') from the penultimate album Fin De Un Viaje Infinito (2007, EMI Music Spain).

So why start a music blog with them (him), then?

Firstly, because Deluxe is one of my favourite Spanish bands, worthy of addition to any music collection (and certainly to mine). Indeed he holds a special place in my family - my kids (Pablo 4, Lucia, nearly 3) know the words to most of the songs from the last two albums and are always asking to see the DVD of the concert in La Rivera (Madrid) from October 2007 - their own special kiddies karaoke ensues everytime! - and my extremely better half (Inma) and I have followed his movement since he appeared.

Secondly, and more appropriately, due to the fact that Xoel López, the man behind (and in front of, come to think of it!) the Indie Pop group Deluxe has decided to call time on his project after 7 years of intense record production and touring.

The former Elephant Band man has, wisely, chosen to quit while he is ahead, so all that is left for me to do is to enlighten those (mainly the non-Spaniards amongst us) who may be wondering who the hell this guy is with a brief review of his music.

After leaving Elephant Band to start his project Deluxe, Xoel signed to the Spanish Indie label, Mushroom Pillow and released his first album Not What You Had Thought (2001). A presentation tour of over 100 gigs (including the FIB Festival in Benicasim, Castellón, Spain), accompanied by a first hit single 'I'll see you in London', which included a cover version of The Smith's 'There is a light that never goes out' (immediately shooting him up in my rating!), put Deluxe well and truly on the Spanish indie map.

His second LP, If Things Were To Go Wrong (Mushroom Pillow, 2003), again with English lyrics, reasserted Xoel's position as one of Spain's leading talents on the music scene and was even edited in Japan. Xoel's mix of catchy pop songs and more melancholic ballads, likening him to Beck, with a touch of The Who (cover version of Baba O'Riley included) and Morrissey, meant he was going from strength to strength and many thought international recogition was only a matter of time.

Perhaps surprisingly, then, was the move to Spanish lyrics for his third venture, Los Jóvenes Mueren Antes De Tiempo (Mushroom Pillow, 2005). However, Xoel had it clear in his mind that this was his language and that the important thing was the music and tracks like 'El antiheroe' and 'Mira' prove him right.

The forth album saw another significant change in Deluxe's development as he signed for EMI Spain before releasing Fin De Un Viaje Infinito (EMI Music Spain, 2007). This, in my humble opinion, is the most complete album by far. Previous offerings had all included great tracks, but 'Viaje...' is a truly great album. From the opening piano in 'Colillas en el suelo' to the closing hidden track, there is not one wasted moment on this album with 'Colillas...', 'Gigante', 'No es mi primera vez', 'Requiem (no fui yo)', 'Simone' and 'A un metro de distancia' for the popites and 'Tendremos que esperar', 'Rostro de actriz' and 'De tanto callar' for the balladites well backed up by a further 5 tracks. In fact, if anyone were naïve enough to go out and buy something on the strength of this post, then this would be a wise choice, even if your command of Spanish is no more than dos cervezas, por favor.

Almost a year to the day of the release of 'Viaje...', Deluxe bring out their fifth and final (for now) album, Reconstrucción (EMI Music Spain, 2008). A follow up to 'Viaje...' is a tall order and, on first listening to this album, you wonder if it can keep up with the Jones'. However, the more you listen to it the more you realise what a good bunch of songs this is. Fewer, albeit unforgettable, songs for the popites, such as 'Historia Universal (el amor no es lo que piensas)', 'Adiós Corazón' and 'Este último encuentro' sit comfortably beside the more-predominant slow songs, including 'El cielo de Madrid', 'Los días fríos' and 'Y si aguanto un poco más'. Also worthy of mention is the extra DVD of the La Riviera concert (Madrid, October 2007), which gives you an idea of what a Deluxe gig is like (enhanced by guest appearances from Josele Santiago - Los Enemigos -, and Amaral, amonst others.

The result, the end, fitting or not, to Deluxe.

What more can I say? Perhaps I should start and finish with 'Gracias por todo' to Xoel López. A seemingly unassuming person who has made a more than significant contribution to Spanish indie pop during the past decade.

And, who knows, a Hasta luego ('see you later') as oppposed to an Adiós followed by the best wishes whatever for the future to this Galician genius.

In the meantime, a taste of Deluxe, followed by their complete discography.

De Deluxe