CD: Jonas Brothers - 'A Little Bit Longer'

Obviously if you’re already sneering at the idea of Jonas Brothers then this review is not gonna change your mind, it’s not designed to do that. So many people in this country have already decided they hate Nick, Joe and Kevin before they even hear a note – whatever. The fact is that ‘A Little Bit Longer’ is a great great pop record throughout, the brilliant first single ‘Burnin Up’ was just the beginning…

‘Video Girl’ is one of the bitchiest songs you’ll hear this year, the tale of a girl who thinks she’s dating a Jonas after appearing in their video for two seconds, you get the idea from the sneering vocal that there is more than an element of truth to this one. Elsewhere, ‘Shelf’ is a great tale of yearning as is the high tempo but lyrically down ‘Pushin Me Away’.

The highlights are the slower tracks. ‘Cant Have You’ is a heartbreaking tale of missed love and ‘When You Look Me In The Eyes’ will already be familiar to anyone who owns the self-titled album, but it hasn’t lost any of its power. The centrepiece of the record is Nick Jonas’ ‘A Little Bit Longer’, a tale of his struggle with diabetes. It’s a beautiful piano balled that regularly has American audiences in tears. Stunning.

Pop album of the year? No competition.

Perpetually Stuck In Sepia Film

Well, what is there to say about Paul Newman? One of the greatest actors ever, choose any period of his career and you’ll encounter classics. And he made a cracking salad dressing too. RIP, sir.

The best tribute to pay is just to pick any of the classics from this list and rediscover some of the best performances of all time. The word ‘legend’ gets thrown around too much these days, but in terms of Hollywood, the word is almost too small to describe Mr Newman.

How’s this for a CV, classics one and all, go discover greatness…

Cars
Road To Perdition
The Hudsucker Proxy
Mr And Mrs Bridge
Fat Man And Little Boy
The Color Of Money
The Verdict
Slapshot
The Sting
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Cool Hand Luke
Hud
Sweet Bird Of Youth
The Hustler
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

10 Songs To Download This Week

1/ Burnin’ Up – Jonas Brothers
2/ Misery – Soul Asylum
3/ Lovely Bones – Kids In Glass Houses
4/ Navy Sheets – The Hold Steady
5/ Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
6/ Fly On The Wall – Miley Cyrus
7/ Star – Extreme
8/ Suzanne – Leonard Cohen
9/ The Backseat – The Gaslight Anthem
10/ Air War – Crystal Castles

Pixar Moves 'Newt'

Following on from Disney’s exciting announcements this week, it seems there is some shuffling happening in the Pixar world.

With the news that Cars 2 has been pushed up to 2011, questions were raised as to the fate of the two Pixar movies already slated for that year – the first time two Pixar movies would hit in a year, would Cars 2 make it three?

Seems not. Whilst The Bear And The Bow will still premiere in 2011, the other offering Newt has been pushed back to Summer 2012. Newt tells the tale, as you may have guessed from the title, of the last two blue-footed newts on Earth who must mate in order for their kind to exist, the only problem being that they cannot stand each other…

Disney Reveals All

The Walt Disney Company held a lavish reception in Hollywood this week to announce its future slate and there were many surprises unveiled…

Amongst the films we knew about that were being shown off were High School Musical 3, Hannah Montana, The Princess And The Frog, Bolt and Pixar’s Up.

More surprising was the announcement of a new version of The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp as Tonto. Depp is going to be very busy with the company who also announced he will be starring as The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland (which will be in 3D) as well as returning as Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4.

In animation, Cars 2 has been moved forward to 2011 and the year before will see the return of Woody The Cowboy in the 3D Toy Story 3.

Add to this Tron 2 and,er, G-Force, a tale of talking gerbils and you have a very busy time in the house of the mouse.

LIVE: Peter Doherty, Bournemouth 24/09/08

Naturally we’ve all been here before – Peter announces shows at short notice in strange venues, then turns up late or no shows, it’s all part of the story. Yet, this time it’s different, the gig goes smoothly, Doherty turns up on top form and plays a brilliant set. So sorry if you’re looking for scandal, you’ve come to the wrong place.

How many support acts can one man have? Well, on this evidence a few too many. A dull female singer, an acoustic male who tries to be the British Bright Eyes and does a killer cover of Talking Heads ‘Psycho Killer’ and local favourites Betika, who are still just too many cooks spoiling a rather tedious broth. The one to take note of are The Supernovas, who seem set for stardom, despite a distinct lack of originality. They are basically a Libertines/Monkeys/Courteeners hybrid, but their three minute guitar pop songs are spiky enough that you get carried away with them, despite them offering nothing we haven’t heard a million times before.

Peter appears looking smart and straight, accompanied on some tracks by Shambles drummer Adam Ficek and works his merry way through classics from all periods of his career, everything from ‘What A Waster’ to ‘Killamangiro’ gets an airing. Highlights are Libertines favourites ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’, ‘The Delaney’ and ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ and a rare outing for the classic ‘You’re My Waterloo’.

This is Doherty on top of his game. We don’t need a Libertines reunion (a great section of the audience don’t seem to know any of the Libs material anyway, but that’s a rant for another day!), we just need Peter to stay on this form and the Albion definitely sails on course.

Come Back To Camden

Next Sunday (28th) sees the ‘Super Sunday’ event taking place in Camden Town. The idea is to bring music fans back to Camden after the fire that ravaged the borough earlier in the year, destroying classic watering hole The Hawley Arms.

The Holloways will headline the event with SixNationState and Nat Jenkins also performing on the top of a canal boat. Other venues including The Monarch, The Lock Tavern and Dingwalls will also feature music throughout the day.

Whilst its obviously a great cause, Camden remains a hotbed of new music every night of the week and chances are you can always catch an up and coming band in Parkway’s The Dublin Castle who are better than The Holloways and you’ll probably spot some Britpop royalty too – just last week we encountered Tommy from Space in there wearing a lovely furry jacket and looking about two foot high. Oh yes, we love Camden.

Burnin' Up For You, Baby

And finally, the pop single of the year hits the UK. ‘Burnin Up’ by Jonas Brothers hits stores and iTunes today. Hollywood Records campaign for the band has been very bizarre over here already and now instead of launching ‘Burnin Up’ by itself, it is coming out as a double A-Side with ‘When You Look Me In The Eyes’, which is of course brilliant, but from the last album, which we already have in three different versions (Original US album, UK version with different tracks and Bonus Jonas Edition with the New York gig).

So essentially they’ve released the two best pop singles of the year…

10 Songs To Download This Week

Give Blink 182 a blast and raise a glass to Travis Barker. Get well soon, dude.

1/ Easy Tiger – Kids In Glass Houses
2/ All Hope Is Gone – Slipknot
3/ Film Noir – The Gaslight Anthem
4/ I Miss You – Blink 182
5/ Steve McQueen – The Automatic
6/ I Wont Back Down – Johnny Cash
7/ Shake It – Metro Station
8/ Pop Princess – The Click Five
9/ The End – Mcfly
10/ Maggie’s Farm – Bob Dylan

Your New Favourite Band

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Metro Station. Brilliant brilliant Californian Emo-pop electro goodness. Imagine a cross between the bombast of Cobra Statrship and the pop sheen of The Click Five. Yes, that good…

Metro Station features two singers – one, Mason Musso is the brother of Hannah Montana star Mitchel Musso and the other Trace Cyrus is Miley’s brother. This will no doubt put some people off, but those people are IDIOTS, Metro Station are just a joyous thing. If you like Rooney, Simple Plan or Boys Like Girls (and if you don’t, why not?) then we suggest getting the self-titled album post haste, you wont regret it.

METRO STATION – ‘CONTROL’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS3m2vyaCpI

METRO STATION – ‘KELSEY’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRTyMUZ1m1A

METRO STATION – ‘SHAKE IT’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpU78IeTx_c

The Rock Goes To Tomorrowland

It was obvious after the success of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy that Disney would be going to the well again to try and turn another ride into a cinema hit.

Yet now it seems they are going one better and turning a whole LAND into a film. Yes, writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are currently putting together a script for a epic space movie, which it is thought will take inspiration from the theme parks Tomorrowland segment – although Disney denies that the film will share that name.

What we do know is that the project will star Dwayne Johnson (it seems we cant call him The Rock anymore, BUT WE WILL ANYWAY) in his third big Disney project.
There’s plenty that can be done with attractions like Space Mountain or Mission To Mars, hey we’re such Disney junkies we’d be there day one for a Wedway People Mover movie starring Tom Morrow…

Justin Hawkins Heads Back To Stadiums

With the rest of The Darkness back as Stone Gods, a brilliant but serious metal outfit, those looking for more Darkness style fun need look no further than Justin Hawkins new band Hot Leg.

Imagine an amped up version of his last band, throw in covers of Jennifer Rush’s ‘The Power Of Love’ and Huey Lewis’ song of the same name and you have a dayglo metal treat.

The problem is of course that the Queen shenanigans of Hawkins may not translate on the toilet circuit that Hot Leg now find themselves on. Whilst we would recommend seeing them given a chance, no matter how small the venue, they are about to be support on two major arena tours where Hawkins gets back to his natural habitat.

Firstly Hot Leg will be supporting the reformed Extreme, in what should be a fantastic double bill. Then, slightly more bizarrely, but taking the band to Brixton Academy, they will tour with po-faced serious metallers Alter Bridge.

Welcome back, sir. We can hear the critics already whining about outdated hair metal. We side with Hawkins. Bring it on.

Jake Roberts 'Drugged'

This past weekend, WWE legend Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts appeared at an independent show in Lakewood, Ohio for Firestorm Pro Wrestling. Now Roberts is known for his problems with alcohol and drugs in the past, but fans were surprised to be confronted with a clearly drunk Roberts, ranting and raving, before a match with JT Lightning, which can only be described as embarrassing.

Following a video of the event popping up on Youtube, Roberts’ assistant claims that Jake was drugged before the show and the star himself has said that he has no memory of wrestling. Roberts commented: “"I never have felt like that. I don't know why this has happened. I pray that it never happens to anybody. I am sorry. I can’t even talk. I can't tell you how scary it is because right now I am shaking just thinking about it. I just don’t want it to happen to anybody. Whoever did it, I hope to hell what goes around comes around and let God sort it out because I am not going on a man hunt because I am scared to even open the door much less anything else."

Here’s the car crash of a match…

'Heavenly' New Manic Street Preachers Interview…

Following on from their gig to celebrate the Heavenly label, Manic Street Preachers have talked to Simon Price (official biographer and author of the excellent Manics tome ‘Everything’) about their brief but explosive time on the label.

James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire discuss the early days of tiny gigs, travelling as part of a mismatched Heavenly tour and their first impressions of the capital. It’s a brilliant read for those who remember the fab four before they were household names.

To read Simon’s interview, go here: http://www.thequietus.com/articles/manic-street-preachers-a-heavenly-body-of-work

10 Songs To Download This Week

1/ ‘I Don’t Want To Die’ – Conor Oberst
2/ ‘Go Square Go’ – Glasvegas
3/ ‘Save Your Scissors’ – City And Colour
4/ ‘In One Ear’ – Cage The Elephant
5/ ‘Accessories’ – The Automatic
6/ ‘Gotta Find You’ – Joe Jonas
7/ ‘Saturday’ – Kids In Glass Houses
8/ ‘About You Now’ – The Courteeners
9/ ‘I’m Sick’ – Mark Morriss
10/ ‘Love Remains’ – Mansun

Chucky VS New York City

We’re used to various publicity stunts being used to hype movies but normally they are funny or interesting rather than disturbing, but we think this one definitely falls into that category.

Yes, to promote the 20th anniversary DVD edition of the classic horror ‘Child’s Play’, a crew of full size Chuckys was sent out to terrorize New York City! Now we cant wait for the new edition of the movie, but real life Chuckys are only going to see us crying like girls or hiding behind the sofa, which is difficult to do when you’re in the middle of the city…

Iron Man 2! In 3D?!?

Poor old Jon Favreau, any other year ‘Iron Man’ would have been the greatest superhero movie of them all. Alas, Downey Jr and company arrived in the same year as a little something called ‘The Dark Knight’…

So, if you’re looking at a sequel to ‘Iron Man’, how can you make sure that it is the blockbuster to beat them all. Hmm, I dunno, how about shooting the whole film in the IMAX format? Not bad. Or maybe shoot it in 3-D? Explosions, fire, robots, all coming atcha big time. Nice. Well, it seems that Favreau is toying with doing both – yes, a 3D IMAX epic that would no doubt have fanboys everywhere exploding.

Of course, before we get too ahead of ourselves, we should remember that the movie has not even begun filming yet, so there is plenty of time for Paramount to look at the numbers and decide that they just don’t add up.

Guess we’ll see you in the queue, Summer 2010 to see how Iron Man 2 turns out and how many dimensions it is in!

CD: Glasvegas - 'Glasvegas'

Here it comes then, THAT album, you know the one, every year it arrives – ‘the best debut since Definitely Maybe’, ‘The new saviours of rock’, ‘The new Whatever We Loved Last Year’, blah blah blah. You’d be forgiven for being bored of Glasvegas before you even heard a note of their haunting majesty, tossing them aside as another McGee obsession who look a bit like The Clash. Move along, nothing to see here, etc etc.

Except, Glasvegas DO have the songs. Remember when the first Suede album arrived on the back of a huge wave of hype, but you knew it would work because you were already well acquainted with ‘The Drowners’, ‘Metal Mickey’ and ‘Animal Nitrate’? Similar scenario here, the album is worth the dosh just for ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’, ‘Daddys Gone’ and ‘Geraldine’, a storming trio of epic brilliance.

Yet, it’s not all about the singles, the album kicks off with the doo-wop My Bloody Valentine excellence of ‘Flowers And Football Tops’ and instantly you are grabbed by the shimmering wall-of-sound Spector-esque magic on view here. The voice, to be honest, might grate somewhat, but you can’t deny that soaring instrumental sheen. ‘Go Square Go’ is a highlight, a stomping rocker, with the chilling kiss-off “I can’t go home tonight, here we fucking go” – this isn’t “She loves you, yeah yeah yeah.”, Toto…

If there’s any downside here, it’s ‘Stabbed’, where suddenly the gritty realism seems slightly too much over a tale of, yes, getting stabbed. Yet even this, has a beautiful backing, a haunting piano refrain that stays with you long after the slightly cringeworthy lyrics are forgotten.

Album of the year? Nope, we’re still going with The Gaslight Anthem for that. British album of the year? Er, Late Of The Pier? Look, don’t read this bit looking for the soundbite, it’s a great great record and that, my friends, is good enough.

I'll Always Love You, New York

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNMphsrBTJY

What's So Civil About War Anyway?

Reading Mick Wall’s excellent W. Axl Rose biography ‘W.A.R.’ last night got me thinking about the legacy of Guns N’ Roses and how people’s perceptions of the players involved have changed down the years.

Few would argue that ‘Appetite for Destruction’ is anything but one of the best metal debuts ever, posturing and full of attitude without the lipstick and make-up edge of many of the scenesters of the time, it was almost a punk record in the way that it exploded into the mainstream, oblivious to everything else that was going on, a collection of songs so powerful that there was nothing that could stop them being heard, even inter band arguments and drug habits that would have killed those with weaker constitutions.

It’s after this of course, that opinions begin to splinter. Some whine that side two of ‘GNR Lies’ was a watered down version of the stroppy band they fell in love with (Er, hello? ‘Used To Love Her’? The still furious and incendiary ‘One In A Million’? This is a band still at the top of its game) and that they were chewed up and spat out by the mainstream. This is clearly rubbish. What happened was that W Axl Rose was a visionary, not prepared to tread water for years raking in the royalties while miming ‘Paradise City’ at the Superbowl halftime show. Axl was instead looking at what Queen had done, a band that was fully capable of producing three minute pop nuggets whilst the next minute pushing the envelope so far that some would be left scratching their heads and wandering exactly what the hell was going on.

‘Use your Illusion I and II’ then. Still, they whined “Oh, couldn’t they have just released a classic single album?” Hmm, an interesting idea perhaps but how would you fill it? Just the full on rock tracks like ‘Right Next Door To Hell’ and ‘Back Off Bitch’? Would there be room for Izzy’s more laidback moments like the brilliant ‘Dust N Bones’? And most importantly, how many of Axl’s epics could make the cut if you only had two sides of vinyl to fill. No, Use Your Illusion wasn’t the sound of one man’s ego exploding, it was the sound of a songwriter in love with his art, someone who was looking outside of his genre, who wanted more than to be spending the rest of his days sipping whiskey at the Viper Room.

Okay, here’s the test – go write down your ten favourite Guns N’ Roses tracks. Done it? Good. Well, how many of them are from that ‘classic’ debut versus the Illusion records? Here, we’ve got two from ‘Appetite’ and a whole host of Axl classics from ‘Use Your Illusion’. Look at it like The Clash. Their debut is a storming thriller of a record, but it was never as interesting as ‘London Calling’ when ideas were just exploding like firecrackers, however punk or not they may be.

So what of the future? Well, I’ll still be first in line when ‘Chinese Democracy’ comes out, interested to hear what road Axl takes next. Meanwhile people will continue to whine that it’s not the real Guns N’ Roses whilst Slash beams down from every videogame billboard in the land, a pixellated cliché now safely nestled into the mainstream’s bosom. Your move, Axl. Good luck, buddy.

Oh and for the record, my ten favourite Guns N’ Roses tracks are:

‘It’s Alright’
‘My Michelle’
‘November Rain’
‘You’re Crazy’
‘Don’t Cry’
‘Estranged’
‘Civil War’
‘Used To Love Her’
‘Get In The Ring’
‘Yesterdays’

'New' Mansun Album Revealed

Ok, ok, it’s not really a new Mansun album, deep breath there, it’s just a new way to listen to and evaluate some old classics…

As part of his 10th Anniversary Of ‘Six’ blog, Paul Draper discussed the EP b-sides and the fact that if the band had not have imploded before its time, the tracks would have been released as a series of albums complimenting the quartet of real albums.

As way of an example, Draper revealed the tracklisting for ‘The Dead Flowers Reject’, which would have been the post-Six record – it features not only some of the EPs greatest tracks but in ‘GSOH’ and ‘When The Wind Blows’ especially, some of the band’s finest material, full stop.

The full tracklisting for ‘The Dead Flowers Reject’ is as follows:

1. What It’s Like To Be Hated
2. GSOH
3. Been Here Before
4. When The Wind Blows
5. Can’t Afford To Die
6. Church Of The Drive Thru Elvis
7. I Care
8. King Of Beauty
9. But The Trains Run On Time
10. Check Under The Bed
11. I Deserve What I Get
12. Railings
13. Spasm Of Identity (hidden track)

10 Songs To Download This Week

Legally please, they're all on iTunes...

1. ‘Snuff’ – Slipknot
2. ‘Broken’ – Late Of The Pier
3. ‘Geraldine’ – Glasvegas
4. ‘Vampire’ – Antsy Pants
5. ‘Great Expectations’ – The Gaslight Anthem
6. ‘One For The Cutters’ – The Hold Steady
7. ‘Slipping Away’ – Mansun
8. ‘Thinking Of You’ – Katy Perry
9. ‘Fly On The Wall’ – Miley Cyrus
10. ‘If I Don’t See You Again’ – Neil Diamond

POEMS/LYRICS: 'The Time Machine Wont Take You Home'

'She said the day was coming
When we had to get out of here
But she didn’t mean us, did she?
She didn’t mean it, did she?

He knew the end was coming
That he had to give up on her
But she meant everything to him
She means everything to him.

The time machine won’t take you home
Your room is empty and your life is bare
She still lives on inside your broken heart
But she’s not really there,
She’s never really there.

They say that time’s a healer
But what’s the timeline on this pain?
I’m sinking further downwards
I’m sinking further downwards.

Keep the platitudes inside
The plastic roses and fake smiles
It’s over, it’s not over
The memories become regrets.

The time machine won’t take you home
Your room is empty and your life is bare
She still lives on inside your broken heart
But she’s not really there,
She’s never really there.

My thoughts are always with you
No matter what I do
Just once I want to rest my aching head down on the pillow
And for you to be there too.
And for you to be there too.'

POEMS/LYRICS: 'The Blackened Silent Sky'

'Trembling and giving up to the darkness
The Lagerstrasse lacks the signs we need to find our way
Under our fingernails the ash of the dead
Don’t breathe in, don’t breathe out.

Falling but held up by fear
Pin fake medals on my failing body
I’m not waving I’m drowning
I’m not slimming I’m wilting

No laughter in block five
Hold each other close but don’t feel anything
Don’t take a shower, it’s all over
Don’t trust another, don’t take your glasses off.

It’s the day the clown cried
It’s the end of everything
It’s not giving up or giving in
It’s seeing things as they are, too much death too much death.

Another child taken through to the other world
A parent shivers as the smoke goes up
Another head falls as the bravery cuts through
A mute heart sighs as it says goodbye

Dying but kept here by life
Show me magic or just show me death
I’m not living I’m just dying
I’m not ready I’m not ready

Much horror in Block Eight
Scratch the walls try to escape
Don’t remember dignity
A scramble to die first with something left

It’s the day the clown cried
It’s the end of everything
It’s not giving up or giving in
It’s seeing things as they are, too much death too much death.

My face looks up at the nozzle
I wait for the water, wait for the purity
Suddenly the air smells of death
And it’s all through, it’s all through.

Who’s opening the doors?
Who’s opening the doors?
Who’s opening the doors?
I’m free through work.
Through death.'

Harold Ramis on 'Ghostbusters 3'!

The world of Ghostbusters fandom has been frothing at the mouth recently at the thought of a third movie finally getting the go ahead. Earlier in the week, ‘The Office’ writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky were said to be writing a script for a third movie. Harold Ramis has been working with the writers on the Jack Black comedy ‘Year One’ and sent the following email to The Chicago Tribune regarding the status of GB3…

“yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. judd apatow is co-producing year one and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level. he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson. the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity. not much else to say at this point. everyone is confident a decent script can be written and i guess we'll take it from there.

best,
harold”

Aside from his aversion to capital letters, it seems that Ramis is confident of not only bringing the team back together, but perhaps adding some of the Apatow family to the project – ‘Ghostbusters’ with Seth Rogen, Paul Judd, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera? Yes, please.

More Vampires, More!

Now that ‘Breaking Dawn’ has put a full stop on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, you might be missing your regular dose of moody vampire action.

Well, America’s HBO Network (which of course has produced many of the most electrifying and, more importantly, intelligent dramas of recent years) has no doubt picked up on this and will this weekend premier its new flagship series ‘True Blood’.

Following the invention of synthetic blood by a Japanese scientist, vampires have come out of the shadows and ingratiated themselves into modern society. Whilst there is no longer any danger of the bloodsuckers turning other citizens into a midday snack, many are still unsure about these developments and government and religious groups have chosen which side of the line to take…

The series takes place in the small town of Bon Temps, a place where Sookie Stackhouse (played by ‘The Piano’ star, Anna Paquin) already feels like an outcast due to her bizarre ability to listen in on other people’s thoughts. Therefore, she is more welcoming than most when it comes to the vampires, especially Bill Compton, a devilishly attractive 173 year old who moves in up the road.

‘True Blood’ comes from the creator of classic series ‘Six Feet Under’, Alan Ball, and promises to be even darker than his previous work. ‘True Blood’ premieres in America at 9pm on September 7th so expect to be caught up in the Internet tsunami soon after that - and chances are that that guy selling DVDs in your local pub will have it in a couple of weeks anyway…

Subliminal Girls - New Live Dates

Pop munchkins Subliminal Girls have announced a trio of dates to support the forthcoming single ‘Self Obsession Is An Artform’/’Posh Girls Names’/’Electronic Hearts (Heart Alone)’.

The first date takes place at Selfridges in association with www.stuartsemple.com on 16th October. Next Jim Rhesus and the boys will be hitting The Vault @ Winchester University with the equally mighty Art Brut on 18th October. Finally Subliminal Girls play The Fly, Oxford Street for the Pop Art night on the 8th November.

[UPDATE: Subliminal Girls have now announced a fourth date at Club Fandango@The Dublin Castle, Camden on 21st October.]

Not part of Team Subliminal Girls yet? Check out their videos for past singles here and see what you’ve been missing – Dayglo attitude pop galore. Brilliant.

Subliminal Girls ‘BURN KOKO’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw_997ECSTU

Subliminal Girls ‘HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMFvhea2HSc

Deluxe 'Twilight' Revealed

With the Twilight movie creeping ever closer, it is set to be both an exciting time and an expensive time to be a Twilighter.

Moviemarket.co.uk has just started selling the movie posters, including the brilliant Edward/Bella design, for £9.99 a shot. Now the Twilight: Collector’s Edition has been revealed, a deluxe version of the first book. This edition includes a ribbon bookmark, a cloth cover, ragged page edges, new chapter opener designs and a protective slipcase. No doubt when this one sells out, we’ll be treated to deluxe versions of the other three Twilight books too, hopefully without any Jacob Black goodies…Twilight: Collector’s Edition hits the UK on October 2nd.

'Six' Becomes Ten

This week sees the tenth anniversary of Mansun’s second bonkers-and-genius album ‘Six’, an album that sounds as raw and essential today as it did the first time we sat down and went “What the hell was THAT?” all those years ago.
To celebrate the milestone, singer Paul Draper will be sending out a special blog covering the writing, recording and touring of the epic work and he also promises to reveal unknown facts about the meaning of the artwork and the songs, it should be a fascinating read. In order to get it, just sign up now at http://www.pauldraper.info/list.php

As well as the blog, Paul will be online from 6pm on Sunday 7th September, for a special live forum chat where fans can ask anything about the entire Six experience. To take part, just sign up at http://forum.pauldraper.net

Oh and you probably shouldn’t bother asking if Mansun are about to reform, however much we all wish for it…

CD: The Gaslight Anthem - 'The 59 Sound'

Whilst in Britain new bands are being influenced by all kinds of bands of the past, from the Mary Chain clanging of Glasvegas to the Carter USM pop gloss of Subliminal Girls, it seems that on the American underground, it is Bruce Springsteen who is moulding rock n roll in his glorious image. First we had The Hold Steady with their tales of small town weirdness and character studies straight out of The Boss’ scrapbook and now The Gaslight Anthem are doing a similar thing, with equally brilliant results.

‘The ’59 Sound’ is a classic Americana record that really should come on scratchy well worn vinyl, with its heartbreak tales etched into every emotional groove. The record actually begins with the sound of the needle being dropped and the anticipation of a second of crackling static before ‘Great Expectations’ kicks in, the first of a dozen glorious stories, told swiftly and effectively with each introducing tales of youth, love, loss, basically it’s a heart-on-the-sleeve record, perhaps too earnest for some, but those people are missing out on one of the year’s best rock n roll records. Expect to see them playing Asbury Park soon. We suggest you’re there too.