David Mitchell (Peep Show) Interview

G2 in the Guardian today carries a wonderful interview with David Mitchell, from Peep show and Mitchell and Webb.

David Mitchell has a wonderful quote about American comedy and how it has some way to go to match Britain in self-loathing:

"I can't ever imagine living abroad. I love all elements of how British society lends itself to comedy - you know, it's own sort of pompousness and self-loathing and class system and cynicism and irony: all these sorts of things are strongest here. Something like Curb Your Enthusiasm, great though it is, it's like their first faltering steps into that world of self-loathing that we, as a post-imperial power, have been in for the best part of a century"

Read the article here

JEFF BUCKLEY - around the world

As you may already know, Jeff Buckley's Grace Around the World came out this past Tuesday. Below are links to download some great and really fascinating podcasts about THAT man with the incredible voice:

Duncan Sheik:

Moby:

Laurie Trombley (co-director of the documentary Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley)

Nyla Adams (co-director of the documentary Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley):




Mary Guilbert (Buckley's mother):




Jeff Buckley:



DVD: GRACE AROUND THE WORLD
Part 1: Main Program (running time 85:47) - Selections:
1. Grace (BBC Late Show, London, 1/17/95)
2. So Real (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
3. Mojo Pin (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
4. What Will You Say (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
5. Hallelujah (MTV Japan, 1/31/95)
6. Dream Brother (Howlin Wolf, New Orleans, 12/2/94)
7. Eternal Life (MTV's Most Wanted, London, 3/3/95)
8. Last Goodbye (MTV's Most Wanted, London, 3/3/95)
9. Lover You Should Have Come Over (JBTV Chicago, 11/8/94)
10. Lilac Wine (MTV Europe, Eurokeenes Festival, Belfort, France, 7/9/95)
(all footage previously unreleased except # 9)

Part 2: Bonus Program (running time 32:28) - Selections:
1. Grace (MTV, 120 Minutes, New York, 1/15/95)
2. So Real (MTV, 120 Minutes, New York, 1/15/95)
3. Last Goodbye (MTV, 120 Minutes, New York, 1/15/95)
4. Vancouver (MTV's Most Wanted, London, 3/3/95)
5. Hallelujah (music video directed by Ernie Fritz)
6. "Star Tours" (VH1, Naked Cafe Behind The Scenes Piece, 1/9/95)
7. Merri Cyr bus interview (spring 1995)

CD: GRACE AROUND THE WORLD - Selections:
1. Grace (BBC Late Show, London, 1/17/95)
2. So Real (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
3. Mojo Pin (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
4. What Will You Say (Live Aus Dem Sudbahnhof tv, Frankfurt, Germany, 2/24/95)
5. Hallelujah (MTV Japan, 1/31/95)
6. Dream Brother (Howlin Wolf, New Orleans, 12/2/94)
7. Eternal Life (MTV's Most Wanted, London, 3/3/95)
8. Last Goodbye (MTV's Most Wanted, London, 3/3/95)
9. Lover You Should Have Come Over (JBTV Chicago, 11/8/94)
10. Lilac Wine (MTV Europe, Eurokeenes Festival, Belfort, France, 7/9/95)
11. Grace (MTV's 120 Minutes, USA, 01/15/95)
12. So Real (MTV's 120 Minutes, USA, 01/15/95)

DVD: AMAZING GRACE: JEFF BUCKLEY (running time: 61:57)

MTV's '$5 Cover'

MTV has a new musical drama about the Memphis music scene. The show follows a bunch of up and coming musicians (ranging from pop to southern rock to urban artists) playing themselves as they fight for love, inspiration and money to pay the rent. The series explores the modern-day incarnation of the city's historic music scene through the lens of Memphis-based filmmaker Craig Brewer, acclaimed director of "Hustle & Flow." Fans will have full access to all the music and artists they discover through "$5 Cover" with the release of the series' soundtrack, available exclusively in digital formats, on Tuesday, April 28.

The "$5 Cover" soundtrack features a number of unreleased tracks from the artists. Of particular interest to ATM readers may be Amy Lavere (a female pop/folk artist) and Lucero (southern/indie rock),. You can check out the "$5 Cover" soundtrack here:


Watch Amy LaVere "Killing Him":


WATCH Lucero "San Francisco"



$5 Cover Teaser:

New Zune HD announced

Now, I have always been an iPod man myself, but i do believe in some healthy competition. So just prior to a new iPhone launch, Microsoft has unveiled it's rival, the Zune HD.

Microsoft is betting on greater integration with XBox Live, and a sexy new OLED (fancy) screen playing (downscaled, not native) 720p high definition.





So what are the specs? The important thing for Microsoft is that people choose this thing over an iPod, it needs to be cheap. Perhaps it'll work as a gaming platform with the XBox integration. Apparently the software is pretty good.

Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.

Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.
The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.
The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.*
Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.

Iglu & Hartly's 'And Then Boom' - listen to the full album here

Iglu & Hartly's 'And Then Boom' comes out next week on 5/5, but you can listen to the whole album now on Imeem. Check it out here.

hey're also giving away .mp3s of "DayGlo" and "Jump Out of Your Car":

Great Lake Swimmers Tour

The wonderful Great Lake Swimmers will play dates UK dates in May in support of LOST CHANNELS (Nettwerk) out now.

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS

Mon May 18 BRISTOL St Bonaventures

Tues May 19 MANCHESTER Dulcimer

Wed May 20 NEWCASTLE The Cluny

Thurs May 21 GLASGOW ABC

Fri May 22 BIRMINGHAM Glee Club

Sat May 23 LONDON Borderline

Wilco tickets

If you're planning to catch Wilco this summer, tickets go onsale today for the following gigs: Cincinnati Aronoff Center, Las Vegas The Joint, LA Wiltern (x2), Morrison CO Red Rocks, Vienna VA Wolftrap, Wilmington DE Frawley Stadium, Brooklyn NY Keyspan Park, and Buffalo NY Art Park. Go to http://wilcoworld.net/tours/ for more information.

Dates are as follows, note with excitement the Dublin and London shows:

UN 19 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
JUL 03 Morrison, CO Red Rocks
JUL 08 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap
JUL 10 Wilmington, DE Frawley Stadium
JUL 11 Lowell, MA LeLacheur Park
JUL 13 Brooklyn, NY Keyspan Park
JUL 17 Portland, ME Maine State Pier
JUL 18 Wappingers Falls, NY Dutchess Stadium
JUL 19 Lewiston, NY Art Park
AUG 25 London, UK Troxy
AUG 27 Dublin, IRE Vicar Street

New Atheism - intellectual dead end?

With their "intoxicating simplicity" and "display of egotism and arrogance" are new athiests at risk of winning the battle and losing the war? The Guardian thinks so as Madeleine Bunting writes at the start of Holy Week that in the UK, the debate on religion has become a foghorn of the sound of New Athiests and lack of any true discussion or meaningful debate.
She writes
"This is Holy Week. It started yesterday with Palm Sunday and continues through Holy Thursday, Good Friday and culminates this Sunday with Easter Day. One can no longer assume most people will be aware of this, let alone the events these days mark; in a recent UK poll, only 22% could identify what Easter was celebrating. What other system of belief has collapsed at such spectacular speed as British Christianity? One can only presume that the New Atheists are organising a fabulous party to celebrate. Richard Dawkins could stump up for the crates of champagne out of his sumptuous royalties from The God Delusion."

Read the rest of the article here

Ryan Adams book

Guardian America has a feature on Ryan Adams' forthcoming books - Infinity Blues, a collection of free verse he describes as "reality coated by dreams", a novel and another volume of poetry.

As he's given up on music for the time being he's thrown himself into writing, sitting romantically at an old type writer, rising early and writing for 8 hours a day.

The Guardian notes that this puts him into an elite group of musician authors - Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Billy Bragg. But not all their books are any good, will Ryan produce a literary achivement to rival his musical ones?

Infinity Blues is published on 7 May by Akashic books

Read the Guardian article here.

WILCO - new album and DVD

The newspapers may be full of doom and gloom but this should bring a smile to your face: Wilco are brining out a new record.

The title and tracklisting are still to be decided but the songs are finished. They will see Wilco return to the experiments of the studio, rather than the live, organic feel of 2007's SKY BLUE SKY.

Rolling Stone was lucky enough to listen to a very early version and concludes that "the disc gives off a strong country vibe, with lots of pedal steel and acoustic guitar. Standout cuts include the mournful ballad "My Country Disappeared," the Being There-style rocker "Sunny Feeling," a duet with Feist ("You and I") and the band's new unofficial theme, "Wilco, the Song," which features the chorus "Wilco will love you.""

YOu can read their article HERE.

The release date is slated for June, and if it is anything like their string of fantastic albums (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky) perhaps 2009 won't turn out to be such a bad year after all.


Also, Wilco are releasing a tour DVD - Ashes of American Flags. It's getting screenings in cinemas accross the states( you can see the schedule here)after winning the award for Best Cinematography at the Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula, MT.

The DVD is available for pre-order on the Wilco website.www.wilcoworld.net.

Grand Slam at last!

On Saturday, after 61 years of waiting, Ireland finally won a Grand Slam at the six nations. The final game was against the pre-tournament favourites, Wales at their home in Cardiff.

It was such a tense and nerve-shredding experience, going down to the final seconds of the game, but the result was a good one.

The Irish Times sums up the dying moments below:

Two minutes to go.

Ryle Nugent: “Horan . . . Wallace . . . Ireland in position . . . this MUST be it . . . this MUST be it for Ronan O’Gara . . . drop . . . at . . . goal . . . Grand Slam . . . at . . . stake . . . HE’S GOOOOOOT IIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!”

“YEEEeeeeEEEESSssssSSSS!!!!!!!!!!,” said Tony Ward, leaving us wondering which side he was supporting.

“WHOOOooooOOO HOOOooooOO!!!!!,” said Ryle, ensuring he’d never again receive a welcome in the valleys.

“OOOOOOOOOH!!!,” said Tony, so high pitched it sounded like he’d actually popped.

“WOULD. YOU. BELIEEeeeeEEEVE. THAT,” asked Ryle.

Us: “NOOOOOOOoooooo!” (“But we’ve still got two minutes to go,” whispered Tony, so hushed it sounded like he’d just fainted).

By our calculations two minutes = 120 seconds, which, in the scheme of things, isn’t all that much, except when it’s 120 seconds of excruciating, unendurable, insufferable hell.

Sixty seconds later.

“No penalties,” pleaded Tony, his voice going all tremolo.

“No penalties now,” screamed Ryle, his voice long since gone tremolo.

One second later.

Ryle: “Penalty to Wales.“Wales have a penalty to win the Triple Crown and break Irish hearts,”

the penalty was awarded with the time at 79:11; Stephen Jones struck the ball at 80:07; it neared the posts at 80:10. That was almost a whole minute.But all the while, through that lifetime that was those 59 seconds, you knew, come what may, you’d remember it forever, good or bad.

They crouched, they studied, they exchanged a quick glance, and perhaps prompted by Tony’s strangled cry of “yeeeeEEEEEeeeessssSSSSssssss” they kept their flags lowered, and you exhaled so violently a hurricane would have seemed like a breeze.

Magical.

Ben Kweller - Changing Horses review

Ben Kweller
Changing Horses
(2009)



Ben Kweller is one of those guys that can write a tune with a melody that just burrows into your head so you'll sing it all day. On his eponymous 2006 effort almost every track was a perfectly crafted pop song.

Like a lot of artists, Kweller feels that to mature he has to turn his hand to other genres. So Changing Horses is aptly named as a turning point. He puts down his electric guitar and trades it for a pedal steel and a measure of suppin' liquor. This is a full blown country affair, brimming with multi-part melodies and twang.

Does it work? At times. 'On Her Own, 'Fight' and 'Sawdust Man' find the winning combination of Kweller's adolescent voice, acoustic guitar and catchy melody. Elsewhere it sounds as if a country band are re-interpreting some of his demos and employing a honkey-tonk man to play over the top.

Kweller found success by brining his indie-pop style with infectious vocals to student dorms. While changing horses is an interesting diversion, it's not where his true talent lies.

Rating - 7/10

Listen to Changing Horses in full for free at Spotify.

Paste's 10 most re-watchable movies

Paste Magazine has produced a nice feature on the top 10 movies that you can watch and watch and watch.

Their top 10 is as follows:

10. Goodfellas
9. Napoleon Dynamite
8. Pulp Fiction
7. Spaceballs/Robin Hood Men In Tights
6. Casablanca
5. The Princess Bride
4. The Ten Commandments
3. Animal House
2. Groundhog Day
1. The Shawshank Redemption

What do you think? I have never seen Spaceballs, Animal House or even The Ten Commandments or Casablanca. Perhaps it should read the most watchable films.

Read the full post (including trailers) here