Desde el 2007 no daban señales de vida, pero Sean O'Hagan (también ex integrante de Microdisney y Stereolab ) anunció que The High Lamas , regresará con un nuevo disco titulado "Talahomi Way" en el que se espera que el grupo continúe con su brillante mezcla de pop, sonidos a la Beach Boys y sonidos vintage que recuerdan a un concorde sobrevolando Río de Janeiro (por lo de las reminiscencias a los sonidos brasileños de sus anteriores trabajos). Estén pendientes de lo nuevo del grupo afincado en Londres, mientras tanto, acá el tracklist y arriba, un [...]

On this day five years ago, John Peel was getting ready to present another episode of his radio show. Unfortunately, it would be his last as a heart attack would take his life a few weeks later while on a working holiday in Peru. He had been best known as a disc jockey and champion of the musical underdog on BBC radio. His Peel Sessions gave many bands their first chance of airplay and a load of them went on to have successful careers in the music business. Sadly, I never got to hear his shows as it was not [...]

As I said two days ago, Mrs Villain made me do it!!! Yer not too shabby for an old bird of 51 (oops, did I type that out loud???). mp3 : Microdisney - Birthday Girl mp3 : The Wedding Present - Happy Birthday The Morrissey feature will return next Friday.
It's been a much more relaxing week - a few days away in the sunshine, a trip to the Stadium of Light, wildlife expeditions to see baby frogs, cormorants, herons, and dragonflies, football in the park, a few beers with friends tonight, and two more weeks of holiday to look forward to as well.So here's one for everyone still commuting into work. A classic from 1989, and the debut single for Fatima

Weekly Bulletin of The Socialist Party of Great Britain (97) Dear Friends, Welcome to the 97th of our weekly bulletins to keep you informed of changes at Socialist Party of Great Britain @ MySpace . We now have 1484 friends! Recent blogs: Greatness - perceived and real Crassness Beggar's belief Advanced notice: The Socialist Party [...]

Another mixtape4melfi repost here. In February, four middle age Irish Times rock critics created a top 40 Irish Album list of all time. As lists go.....this one stirred up many a comment or 220 odd on the Irish Times blog. Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/blog s/ontherecord/2008/02/29/the-t ickets-top-40-irish-albums-of- all-time/ So in the Irish Times on friday 29th Feb, the below list of the best 40 albums was compiled by 4 Ticket rock writers. I found the list [...]
Sub-editor's Note Should have been posted yesterday, but I was sidetracked. Some more links relating to Microdisney: Andrew Mueller's sleeve notes to the Microdisney's compilation album, 'Daunt Square To Elsewhere'. (No, I hadn't heard of it either.) Being a proper journo-type, Mueller has the skewed compare and contrast off-pat: . . . " a decent approximation of what might have resulted had Jonathan Swift ever joined The Beach Boys, Bertholt Brecht co-written with Steely Dan, Ambrose Bierce displaced Hal David by the piano [...]
While Microdisney were a little before my time and Cathal Coughlan and his Fatima Mansions were just too aggressive to be palatable there is no doubting the beauty of 'Town To Town'. Must have been his Coughlan's mate Sean O'Hagan's (Stereolab and his own High Llamas) west coast leanings that supplied a bona fide chorus to sing along to. That and a video that was made for tuppence meant that it
We've all met people like this. Those who are so obsessed with their own god-like genius that they are blind to the truth that their music is actually self-indulgent noise. 'May Fame' is a documentary about Giordaà ua Laoghaire, an electronic avante-garde composer from Cork. Throughout the years, Ua Laoghaire has been a part of the post-punk outfit Nun Attax, Microdisney's guitarist with Cathal Coughlan and also founded his own avant-garde band Nine Wassies From Bainne in the early 90's. Over the course of the 42 minute documentary, Giordaà reveals himself to be a narcissistic, condescending, strange [...]