It was strange time to be away at a music festival. We left London the morning after an election under one PM and pretty much returned under another. For the the several thousand people at Butlins in Minehead, Matt Groening was our de facto leader during this interregnum (or, for Daily Mail readers, during this [...]

When The Line Of Best Fit asked me to write a blog from ATP I agreed instantly. All Tomorrow's Parties is one of the highlights of my year. It's basically just a chance to get really drunk, go on some waterslides and watch loads of amazing bands with your friends, maybe not in that order. So when my editor told me this blog didn't need to be done until after the festival I was even happier. Who wants to be running around looking for wifi when bands like Boredoms, Iggy, and Ponytail are playing? Exactly. The only problem [...]
Cover News is a weekly feature keeping you up to date on the goings-on in the world of cover tunes, tribute albums, etc. At the bottom we showcase the submissions we've been sent in the past week (send us yours)! As always, follow Cover Me on Twitter for the latest news. Courtney Love This Week's News You ain't never heard "Livin' on a Prayer" the way Coconut and the Duke do it. [Cover Me]
Cover News is a weekly feature keeping you up to date on the goings-on in the world of cover tunes, tribute albums, etc. At the bottom we showcase the submissions we've been sent in the past week (send us yours)! As always, follow Cover Me on Twitter for the latest news. Courtney Love This Week's News You ain't never heard "Livin' on a Prayer" the way Coconut and the Duke do it. [Cover Me]This recorder cover of "My Heart Will Go On" is so good I should shut my blog down right now. After experiencing [...]

red steers - "night hawkes" (download) Red Steers consists solely of New Zealand's Daniel Johnston (not to be confused with the indie rock superhero Daniel Johnston ). He makes poppy, ethereal electronic music for the label A Low Hum . " Night Hawkes " is the lead single from his recently-released EP The Fever Fold , which you can get for FREE right here (or you can pay $10 for the physical copy). [...]
:: D.Johnston, ala Wilco :: Sincerely one of the best covers I've ever heard of the song. Via JosephLindsyWade @ youtube
...Only if you're LOOKING can it FIND you.
An interview with the controversial artist behind the POPaganda movement. Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast) Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for links that don't make it onto the blog.

"I would put Seinfeld and The Simpsons up with ... at their best, they were up there with any of the great artistic achievement of our species." I've talked to a few thoughtful band dudes in my day, but I've rarely had the pleasure of chatting with someone as well-spoken as Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles - and not just because he is apparently as into The Simpsons as I am. Either way, this interview about [...]
There's just something about Daniel Johnston 's live story that makes him an appealing figure to the movie industry. So far, the American singer/songwriter has been the subject of a 2006 documentary The Devil & Daniel Johnston and, as recently reported, director David Miller is gearing up to make biopic, which may or may not star Philip Seymour Hoffman. However, there could be at least one more Johnston-related film hitting the silver screen in the not too distant future and this one would be made by the musician himself. In a recent interview with the [...]

"I had a dream last night", recounts Daniel Johnson , with absolute clarity, a few minutes into his performance. "A man was sentenced to death for trying to kill himself. And that man was me". As on-stage bon mots go, it's assuredly more profound and disturbing than a standard "Hello London!" could ever be and yet it quite perfectly sums up the darkness and conflict that lie beneath the surface of Johnston's art and music. Tonight's bill at East London's magnificent art-deco ballroom The Troxy finds Johnston coupled with Jeffrey Lewis , another luminary [...]

Filed under: News , New Music Nada Surf 's 'If I Had a Hi-Fi' won't be the only significant indie-rock covers album of 2010. Pitchfork reports that Mates of State plan to release a new album, 'Crushes (The Covers Mixtape),' which will boast renditions of tunes by the likes of Death Cab for Cutie , Tom Waits , Fleetwood Mac and more, sometime this summer. The first track available via Mates of State's website [...]
I remember picking up My Solo Project in 2001 at a record store in Gainesville, Florida. "Indie Rock" was just on the rise but at the time Mates of State was slumped into the "Indie Pop" genre and world by my friends and I. Not too long after I had the opportunity to see them [...]

Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner of Mates of State are only in the beginning stages of prepping for their sixth LP, but fans of the husband-and-wife duo will have at least 10 carefully-chosen cover tunes to enjoy during the wait. Mates of State announced today that The Covers Mixtape , a 10-track album featuring ambitious versions of songs by the likes of Nick Cave, the Mars Volta, Daniel Johnston, Vashti Bunyan, Girls, Tom Waits, Death Cab For Cutie, and more, will hit shelves this summer. In fact, it was this covers project that "jumpstart[ed] the [...]
If you're like us and follow Mates of State on Twitter , then you're probably aware that the husband-wife duo of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner have been busy working on a covers album. This summer, they'll unveil the finished product, a 10-track effort titled Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) . The first full-length recorded and produced by Hammel and Gardner themselves, with a mixing assist from longtime collaborator Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), the album hears the duo covering a variety of well-known acts, including Death Cab For Cutie ("Technicolor Girls"), Belle & Sebastian ("Sleep the [...]

(image via yvynyl : via holysoul ) We post and reblog news and notable items on a fairly regular basis on our Tumblr . Here's a sample of what's been featured there recently: NY-Centric: The Market Hotel closed - at least temporarily The L Magazine's 8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear 2010: Miniboone The L Magazine's [...]
As much as it can be argued that the term "living legend" is oxymoronic in its very nature, there is one man whose status definitely qualifies him for a title of such pedigree. He released a career-spanning compilation entitled The Late, Great Daniel Johnston (featuring himself on the cover, visiting his own grave). A heart-wrenching, vault-digging retrospective documentary about his life neglected to actually feature him in the present tense. There is a merchandise industry - usually reserved for the dead - based around his drawings and doodles. And a tribute album to him featured heavy-hitters such as [...]

Filed under: News , UK It was only recently that Spinner reported that cult singer Daniel Johnston is to be the subject of a new biopic with Philip Seymour Hoffman rumoured to play the troubled artist. Now it seems that Johnston himself is planning on sitting in the director's chair to make his own cinematic autobiography. BBC 6 Music reports that the move has been designed as response to Jeff Feurzig's Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary, 'The Devil And Daniel Johnston,' [...]

Despite his notoriously troubled past, Daniel Johnston has been making quite the healthy resurgence of late, as he tours the globe and drops a brand new orchestral album . There's an air of confidence and ambition about Johnston these days that reminds me of his notorious early days hawking cassette tapes in Texas — at least as depicted in a certain 2006 documentary. Now a choice quote about that film from an interview with BBC 6Music is making the rounds today… "It wasn't really fair," Johnston said of the critically-acclaimed [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter DANIEL JOHNSTON has said little about the 1996 documentary on him. That is until recently, when he told the BBC that the film "wasn't really fair" and focused on the most difficult parts of his life. The film documented his tumultuous upbringing and struggles with substance abuse and schizophrenia (and was released on dvd by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment). "It wasn't really fair because it really talked about the worst experiences of my life," Johnston said recently. "I wish they had included more music instead of making it one [...]