Good day to you, I hope this mailout finds you well. We’re BRILLIANT, thanks for asking, having gorged ourselves something rotten this week on the sweet meats of the indie A-list – more on that later, but first here’s a humongous crescent of crisps in the shape of the week’s headlines, coming at you like a pack of slavering dogs, or something.
In among the mix of the good, the bad and the absurdly overwritten were Radiohead, whose double-disc Best Of compilation provoked much debate among fans- vote for your favourite here and here - news of a Bjork covers record bringing together the great and good of the indie firmament, and bizarre prophesies of Johnny Borrell’s imminent demise. You heard it here first, folks.
Elsewhere and the fur fairly flew – but not in that way – when Kasabian expressed their horror at people beating up on innocent seals, and Envy & Other Sins raged against the machine after their reality-show fairytale took a turn for the nightmarish.
DiS bagged some top-drawer acts for this year’s Great Escape festival, as well as announcing sponsorship of Johnny Foreigner and The Mae Shi’s May UK tour, and if you’re feeling flush there were details of a way-cool picture disc series featuring No Age, Abe Vigoda and Sunset Rubdown, among others, set for release over the coming months. On a more serious note, there was the sad news of Kraftwerk and Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger’s passing from a heart failure. RIP.
Our features section this week delivered up a devastating triple whammy with Mike Diver’s grilling of indie heavyweights Radiohead and Portishead (a two-parter, no less), plus there was Rob Webb’s tête-à-tête with Pixies and Breeders legend Kim Deal - that’d be a fat thumbs-up all round, then.
Don’t forget to scurry on down to Saturday’s DiScover show in Notting Hill, featuring epic indie tuneage from sought-after Scottish outfit Broken Records, plus support from the equally fine The Monroe Transfer and Vessels. We’ll leave you with the news that next week sees us rolling out the red carpet once more for our much-admir’d Drownloads series, whose fantastic spoils to date have included tracks from The Magnetic Fields, Hercules & Love Affair and Laura Marling.
Foals, playing Reading and Leeds this year
News
Slash doesn't like emo very much at all, Radiohead got ready to head back into the studio, Nick Cave became a Dr., the initial Reading and Leeds line-ups were announced, Kim Deal reckons Stephen Malkmus is a 'bitch'...
Festivals - Battles, Rage Against the Machine, Sigur Ros, Gnarls Barkley, Metallica, Bloc Party, Raconteurs, Editors, We Are Scientists, Foals, Grinderman, Edwyn Collins, Santogold, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Will Young, Echo and the Bunnymen, el Guincho, Dirty Pretty Things, Aphex Twin, Mogwai, The Futureheads, Queens of the Stone Age, Eugene McGuinness, The Enemy, Hot Chip, Mark Ronson, The Killers, Maccabees, Late of the Pier, Hercules & Love Affair, Crystal Method, British Sea Power, Vampire Weekend, Cribs, MGMT, Siouxsie, New York Dolls, (not Beirut)...
Click here for a week in news…
Radiohead
A Week in Features
* Radiohead: Rainbow warriors hit the road's essential learning curves
* Third and foremost: Portishead on their belated comeback
* Top Breeders, recommend it: DiS gets chummy with Kim Deal
* Liverpool's modern music scene: the class of 2008
* Casual strides: Tapes 'n Tapes talk Walk It Off
Chatter and Opinion
* The Weekly DiScussion: no more (local) heroes anymore?
* A Month in Records: March 2008
New Sound
* DiScover Monthly: March 2008
el Guincho
Single of the Week
* Radiohead – ‘Nude’
Click here for our Singles Round-up (24/03/2008)
A Week in Review
* R.E.M.: Accelerate
* Radiohead at the BBC Radio Theatre: Marc Riley’s DiS review
* Barry Adamson: Back To The Cat
* el Guincho @ Hoxton Bar & Grill, London; 27/03/08
* The Death Set: Worldwide
* Supergrass: Diamond Hoo Ha
* The Black Keys: Attack And Release
* ¡Forward Russia!: Life Processes
* The Dodos: Visiter
* The Long Blondes: "Couples"
* We Are Scientists: Brain Thrust Mastery
Message board ‘highlights’
* Indie
…”I listen to vinyl because it’s quirky”. Even Let’s Wrestle despair at Amy the indie
* THE BEST MUSIC RELEASE IN AGES!!!
…JAGger, obliterated
* Most tragic gig you've been to?
…flashbacks of inane funk rock and empty music halls
* Meeting your heroes. What are your best/worst experiences?
…“andrew wk did a message for my voicemail saying that i couldn't answer the phone because i was too busy partying hard”
* Playground insults
…"If you asked you what you did for a living you would not say 'I am a Chinese Bin Man,' you would just say 'I am a bin man.' Even though what you really are is a Chinese Bin Man. Do you see?"
YES,
All at Drowned in Sound
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