Blog: Informal Flick-Thru

Today oversees a double extravaganza of music releases from two of England's most radio-friendly bands. After strategically cryptic videos and lyrical fragments from Coldplay last week, today the band released the predictably titled 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall' upon the bewildered cyber-world. You can read the lyrics here. I'm starting to get the impression music-mogul Brian Eno's sole purpose is to sit down with the band and help devise scientific formulae for anthemic songwriting. The track samples a chord progression from Peter Allen's 'I [...]

Photo by Andrew Smith of Cuba Gallery If you're unemployed or stuck in a dead-end job, there's a lot to be found in the classics. What do you want from life? And how can you get there? If we are able for a moment to glance past all the clichéd rich and famous drivel, for many the precise meaning of “American Dream” is a vague one seen as an inevitably difficult to define concept. The idealist lifestyle of every individual will differ considerably. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman [...]

The inexperienced idealist will have learnt to believe that the good will out, and the best rise to the top. An educated concept associated with youthful potential and big ideas simply waiting to happen. From generation to generation, let it be known: “the sky is the limit”. However encouraging this notion appears to be, it is the overshadowing of the now predominant version of the American Dream that seduces the prospective individual. The reality presented is, that only through the acquisition of material possessions could one obtain happiness. This is the infamous rags-to-riches story, [...]

After a little bit of allocated teaser-time on Later...With Jools Holland at the start of the month, the new Arctic Monkey's LP Suck It And See (Yes, that really is the title) is now available to stream in full via Domino Recording Co. a week early. Take a listen below: The record will be released on June 6th in the UK and June 7th in the U.S, and was produced by Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford. In an interview with The [...]

• Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See

It's widely known Coldplay are back on biggest-band-in-the-world duty this summer, smattering the festival circuit with their stadium-sound, most significantly at Glastonbury with fellow heavyweights U2. The 23rd of May saw a decidedly busier influx of obscurity on the Coldplay Twitter feed than normal. Pictures containing cut-up phrases swallowed in curly swirls that can only [...]

Influential hip-hop pioneer Gil Scott-Heron has died in New York's St Luke's Hospital last night (May 27) aged 62. "The Godfather of Hip-Hop", a title he always rejected, lived life in the fast lane; politically and socially charged by propaganda and harrowed by an ongoing drug addiction, he found refuge in songwriting and poetry. After [...]

Thanks to Consequence of Sound for the heads up, here is an untouched and unforced 90s mash-up. The ever steady Weezer have covered the future-predicting lead single from the fluctuating Radiohead! It's interesting to hear the "unborn chicken voices" being sung by Rivers Cuomo, as I prepare to post this out into the chaotic pipeline [...]

Can any serious Utopia be built on an induced chemical high? The answer will invariably depend on the drug in question, and ones own personal circumstance. In terms of hallucinogens such as mescaline and LSD, “the will suffers a profound change for the worse. The mescalin taker sees no reason for doing anything in particular”.[4] [...]

If we look at the question in hand objectively, we already know that primarily all utopian texts are objective since they begin in medias res with all policies already operating effectively to their realised potential. However to infiltrate an altered state of consciousness is a highly subjective affair, that simply must possess a "before" scenario. [...]

Focusing on Aldous Huxley’s 1954 text The Doors of Perception, this 4-part essay will try to elucidate the ways in which an individual's utopia can be considered a state of consciousness when considering language and drugs as a monitored combination. At 11am one misty May morn in 1953, Aldous Huxley took 4/10ths of a gramme [...]

Over on the Zane Low blog right now you can listen to two brand new Arcade Fire songs; 'Culture War' and 'Speaking In Tongues', which are being released on the end of The Suburbs Deluxe Edition. Alternatively, if you are of non-UK origin, you can just listen below, courtesy of Listen Before You Buy. Also [...]

Here's one television show that won't be winning any Baftas any time soon. Jason Bradbury, acclaimed nerdy presenter of ‘The Gadget Show’ is indeed the correct presenter for a format whose vague aim is to “capture the spirit and fun of interactive family video-games that have been sweeping the nation”. This suggests a technology-inspired show, [...]

The seventieth birthday of Mr. Bob Dylan arrives on Tuesday. As a result I've curated a highly personal and therefore stringent playlist of his music. Tragically, since Bob Dylan (or rather Sony BMG) hates profitless promotion on the Internet; Youtube, Spotify and Soundcloud links are all impossibly scarce or immediately deleted. BBC4 and BBC6 Music [...]

In celebration of the Playstation Network's resurrection, here is the coolest list of the top 10 video-game-themes you're ever likely to see. Ahem. 10. Cave Story - Intro [STUDIO PIXEL] Perhaps the most arcane entry on this list, Cave Story (洞窟物語 Dōkutsu Monogatari) is a freeware platform-adventure game released in 2004 initially only for PC. [...]

Here's presenting the second teaser trailer for the upcoming Dutch short The Monster of Nix, featuring the remarkably apt voices of Python Terry Gilliam and old gravel-voice himself, Tom Waits. This animated musical follows Willy, a troubled lad who fights the destructive force of an all devouring monster in the idyllic village of Nix. The [...]

Download 'Calgary', the first single taken from Bon Iver’s follow up to 20072s For Emma Forever Ago, below. Bon Iver is out June 21st on Jagjaguwar in America and June 20th via 4AD in the UK and Europe. Today is the first taster: Head on over to www.boniver.org where you can stream the mp3, or [...]

After my visit to the BBC studios to witness the recording of the marvellous Later...With Jools Holland, I came away with utter infatuation for this Los Angeles female quartet. Despite hearing a number of recordings prior to their performance, the transformation this song undergoes in the live environment is simply staggering. The strongest feature of [...]

Here is an interesting concept. John Lennon's characteristically dadaist poem 'I Sat Belonely' from his 1964 book In His Own Write has been given a beautiful choral reinvention with surprisingly sensitive results. 1964 was often referred to by Lennon as his "Fat Elvis" period, overwhelmed by the weight of their success at the height of [...]

So I was fortunate enough to win tickets to exist in the audience for BBC22s flagship music show Later...With Jools Holland on Tuesday 10th, and my what a fantastic and surprisingly star-studded experience this turned out to be! The roster of artists on board for this particular showing was undeniably stellar. A sixties legend, a [...]

Taken from forthcoming album Gloss Drop releasing June 6/7 2011 on Warp. Video directed by Canada. A pre-order at Bleep includes instant Ice Cream download. -James Godwin, May 9th, 2011 Copyright © 2011. James Godwin. All rights reserved. Tagged: Battles, Canada, Gloss Drop, Ice Cream, Warp