Knee Deep At ATP May 21, 2008
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Hey kids – well The Signal is just back from a fantastic weekend at the Explosions In The Sky curated ATP in Butlins, Minehead. An absolutely wonderful festival of post-rock instrumentalism and indie boy strumming which led to lots of fun and much chalet dancing! There were many, many great acts, but just some of the highlights included (deep breath!) the fantastic party-loving De La Soul, Okkervil River, the wonderful Jens Lekman, Adem with his brilliant array of covers, the delicate and beautiful Beach House, the rockin’ Silver Jews, The National who were mean moody and magnificent, and worthy headliners Broken Social Scene. Plus of course the spine of the festival was Dinosaur Jr, who played 2 gigs, with J. Mascis and Lou Barlow seemingly being at every other band that played (but never at the same time!).
So as for The Signal, some changes are afoot (indeed even bigger changes were almost afoot, but that turned out not to be). First up we are moving location to London, which I suspect means even more gigs to go to and great music to hear – all good things! Which means we should be able to bring you the show on a more regular basis and packed with tunes, interviews and features. Plus The Signal will still be exclusive to Radio Magnetic (which is mediaspeak for no-one else would have us). Watch out for a new edition of The Signal on Radio Magnetic in June!
In the meantime I’m thinking about creating a portal for some of my own radio history. I’ve been presenting radio programmes for a long time now, and over the years built up quite an archive of interviews and sessions. The vast majority of these were recorded for Cool FM and include chats with big hitters and chart botherers such as Radiohead, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Suede and Fatboy Slim, plus indie kids like The Divine Comedy, Belle & Sebastian (several times!!), Teenage Fanclub, Hefner & Stephen Malkmus. There are loads of others that I plan to catalogue and archive properly, and hopefully I’ll be able to offer them via a blog for any interested listeners. I’ll also put up my playlists for my shows on previous stations if I can find them. Total self-indulgence, but at least it’ll all be in one place! Anyway, if anyone has some advice about how best to present audio interviews online I’d be happy to hear it.
Stay loose!
Radio Heart April 20, 2008
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It’s been a while since the last update from Signal Towers – yet again real life escapades get in the way of
making updates here and shouting loud and proud about the new sounds on Radio Magnetic.
The latest show is in preparation and should be recorded and uploaded soon – this time out featuring new tunes from Long Blondes, Ladytron, XXteens and Black Kids amongst others.
In the meantime I’ve been to a few gigs since the last post – the brilliant Foals who are sensational live and well worth checking out, and the brilliant Holy Fuck whose somewhat cumbersome moniker may prevent the easily spooked from hearing their extremely groovy brand of choopy guitars and funky keyboards.
Lined up for the next few weeks are live experiences with The Fall (as John Peel said they are always the same and always different), and in a few weeks from now I’ll be knee deep in ATP.
Listening-wise, the last few weeks has seen me revisit a few old favourites courtesy of some deluxe re-issues. These are a nice idea for hardcore collectors, but I’m wondering how many times I have to buy another edition of The La’s album. By my reckoning the new edition makes it the fourth for me : a cassette verson in 1990, a CD when I became a teenager with pocket money, then a CD re-release a few years ago with B-Sides, and now another edition with demos and original takes! Even the recent release of Beck’s landmark Odelay, which promises remixes, a terrific update on the cover and additional B-Sides manages to balls it up by leaving off Diskobox from the original release! What’s that about?
Much more satisfying is the new version of the ever shiny, sunny, summery pop classic that is It’s A Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads. This set manages to include loads of demos plus a DVD of an Australian road trip documentary which includes plenty of the original videos too. Recommended!
So – a new Signal soon. Meantime stay tuned!
What’s On The Box? #9 February 6, 2008
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So the musical highlight of this week will no doubt be my first experience of the rock colossus that is Queens Of The Stone Age live. This gig has actually been a long time coming for me – I had tickets to see QOTSA play in a tiny 500 capacity venue back in 2000, around the time “Rated R” came out. But the band cancelled due to illness, there was no rescheduled date, and before you know it, it’s 8 years before you get the chance to see them again. But no matter – Josh Homme is in town and ready to rock!
In other news ,I ‘ve been experiencing that bizarre ecstacy/anger that you get when you hear a song you love being played on TV, but then realise it’s been hijacked by THE MAN to make some political party seem cool, or even worse, try to sell you something. It’s a sensation akin to finding a fiver in the street, but having your wallet nicked as you bend over to claim it.
April March’s interpretation of the Serge Gainsbourg penned France Gall pop masterpiece “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” has seen mileage in the past year on the DeathProof soundtrack (cool), so it was a momentary delight to hear it eminating from my TV speakers this week. Unfortunately this joy lasted mere nanoseconds before I realised that it was being used on a car ad, which has somewhat tarnished my previously unbridled happiness at hearing its twangy opening riff (overall, not cool).
This generally negative experience has been tempered a little by the use of the dazzling Blonde Redhead track 23 from their album of the same name on the trailer for Series 2 of E4’s Skins. Firstly this is a stunningly atmospheric song, which accompanies a visually startling trail, and secondly it means one of my favourite records of 2007 is going to reach a much larger audience. All in all good work by E4’s trailer people.
So (finally getting to the point) this week’s What’s On The Box? really is on the box at the minute – and to celebrate here’s the original video from last year of the ethereal perfection that is 23 by Blonde Redhead.
What’s On The Box? #8 January 31, 2008
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So I caught the brilliant Cribs as the headline act on the NME tour this week. This band have really grown in stature over the past 5 years, and their brilliant album from last year “Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever” was in danger of becoming the greatest overlooked record of the year. Fortunately the high profile NME tour has brought them right into the music lovers’ ears again, and not before time. The back catalogue boasts some of the best punkpop of recent time, and in particular the MNWNW album is rich with riffs from start to finish – a classic no fillers release!
To celebrate the singalong brillance of the Wakefield Three, here’s the video to one of the greatest singles of 2007, The Cribs’ Moving Pictures.
The Signal Speaks! April 15, 2007
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Greetings all! Well, long time, no Signal! I haven’t fallen under a rock, but we have been in hiding here at Signal Towers for the past few months, which means we are well overdue bringing you another selection of fine tunes with talking inbetween.
A combination of technical difficulties and real life getting in the way has meant the continuing run of The Signal has been on hiatus fior a while, but the plan is to kick things off again with a brand new series with more supercool tunes and choice interviews. I have a couple of cool chats lined up, including a lovely sit down chinwag with Joan As Police Woman, who was of course responsible for the Signal’s album of the year in 2006, plus a great interview with Charlotte Hatherley responsible for one of the best albums of 2007 so far. Plus we’ll have giveaways a plenty lots of other interesting business to be about too.
In the meantime to make the blog look tidy I’m putting up some more What’s On the Box posts of things that have caught the eye lately. They’ll be dated Feb and March (even though I posted them in April!). Naughty, but it makes me feel chronologically more aligned.
So – watch out for a new edition of The Signal very soon featuring the best of 2007’s singles, plus a tribute to Life On Mars.
What’s On the Box? #7 February 28, 2007
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Had the opportunity of seeing the brilliant Charlotte Hatherley at the Belfast Limelight recently, playing a brilliant gig in support of her superb new album. It’s a startling record, in equal parts Kate Bush, Bowie and Tanya Donelly, and already one of my faves of 2007. We recorded an in-depth interview with Charlotte about her departure from Ash and the recording of the new album in Italy, so listen out for that on a forhcoming edition of The Signal. Plus as part of the encore she did a snazzy version of XTC’s This Is Pop!
To celebrate the brilliance of Charlotte’s “The Deep Blue”, here’s the video of the first single from the album – this is Behave.
What’s On The Box #6 January 31, 2007
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Well first of all the good is that’s there’s a new edition of the Signal on its way to Radio Magnetic very soon!
In the meantime here’s a classic cathode ray clip of one of the true pioneers of 20th Century music. On Christmas Day we said goodbye to the Godfather of Soul, James Brown – always the hardest working man in showbiz. I’ll be picking out some fave JB material on the next show, but to keep your dancing feet moving till then, here’s a clip of the great man groovin’ to “Mother Popcorn”…
Singles And Albums Of The Year 2006 December 31, 2006
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Well despite the promises below unfortunately technical difficulties have put paid to both our Signal Christmas party and end of year round-up! I haven’t been able to put together the planned shows, but thought I’d post our list of favourite singles and albums of 2006 here.
Not sure when the first Signal of 2007 will be online – hopefully sometime in January. There’s loads of great music coming up plus a few interviews stashed away that are overdue their broadcast so still plenty to look forward to.
Meantime here’s the end of year countdown. Any thoughts or lists of your own very welcome!
The Signal’s Top 20 Singles Of The Year 2006
- CAMERA OBSCURA – Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken
- PETER BJORN AND JOHN – Young Folks
- THE BE BE SEE – You K Gold
- THE LONG BLONDES – Weekend Without Make-Up
- THE GOSSIP – Standing In The Way Of Control
- JARVIS COCKER – Running The World
- HOT CHIP – Over And Over
- JUSTICE VS SIMIAN – We Are Your Friends
- LOVE IS ALL – Busy Doing Nothing
- BONNIE PRINCE BILLY – Cursed Sleep
- CSS – Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
- THE RAPTURE – Get Myself Into It
- BELLE & SEBASTIAN – Funny Little Frog
- THE VIEW –Wasted Little DJs
- HOWLING BELLS – Setting Sun
- GNARLS BARKLEY – Crazy
- BE YOUR OWN PET – Adventure
- THE RIFLES – Repeated Offender
- YOUNG KNIVES – Weekends And Bleak Days
- THE ORGAN – Brother
The Signal’s Top 50 Albums Of The Year 2006
- JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN – Real Life
- LONG BLONDES – Someone To Drive You Home
- CAMERA OBSCURA – Let’s Get Out Of This Country
- EL PERRO
DEL MAR – El Perro
Del Mar - ARCTIC MONKEYS - Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not
- JARVIS – The Jarvis Cocker Record
- CAT POWER – The Greatest
- LOVE IS ALL – Nine Times That Same Song
- THE GRATES – Gravity Won’t Get You High
- OPPENHEIMER - Oppenheimer
- THE GOSSIP – Standing In the Way Of Control
- CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG – 5:55
- ROGERS SISTERS – The Invisible Deck
- MATTHEW SWEET & SUSANNAH HOFFS – Under The Covers Vol. 1
- THE RIFLES – No Love Lost
- BONNIE PRICE BILLY – The Letting Go
- M. CRAFT – Silver And Fire
- SPARKLEHORSE – Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
- ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN – Ballad Of The Broken Seas
- THE YOUNG KNIVES – Voices Of Animals And Men
- YO LA TENGO – I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
- CSS – Cansei De Ser Sexy
- REGINA SPEKTOR – Begin To Hope
- PIPETTES – We Are The Pipettes
- THE RAPTURE – Pieces Of The People We Love
- COMET GAIN – City Fallen Leaves
- YEAH YEAH YEAHS – Show Your Bones
- GIANT DRAG – Hearts And Unicorns
- LADYFUZZ - Kerfuffle
- THE LIKE – Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?
- THE ORGAN – Grab That Gun
- NICKY WIRE – I Killed The Zeitgeist
- GNARLS BARKLEY – St. Elsewhere
- HOT CHIP – The Warning
- THE CONCRETES – The Concretes In Colour
- BE YOUR OWN PET – Be Your Own Pet
- BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – Broken Social Scene
- GRAHAM COXON – Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
- BELLE & SEBASTIAN – The Life Pursuit
- HOT CLUB DE
PARIS – Drop Til It Pops - THE LEMONHEADS – The Lemonheads
- GUILLEMOTS – Through A Window Pane
- PETER BJORN & JOHN – Writer’s Block
- HOWLING BELLS – Howling Bells
- RACONTEURS – Broken Boy Soldiers
- SEAN LENNON – Friendly Fire
- BECK – The Information
- CORTNEY TIDWELL – Don’t Let The Stars Keep Us Tangled Up
- SOL SEPPY – Bells Of 1 2
- ALBERT HAMMOND JR – Yours To Keep
A Christmas Gift For You from The Signal December 16, 2006
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Well it’s that time of year when the sleigh rides are in motion, snowmen called Frosty wrinkle their noses and I start to gorge myself on a Marshmallow World. It’s Cwistmus and The Signal on Radio Magnetic is celebrating with our Signal Office party. I’ll be at the decks spinning the alternative hits of Christmas past and present, with a few of the new singles that are released in December but not actually covered with tinsel. Plus we’ll have an interview with Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse and no doubt be scoffing a few too many mint matchmakers.
The Signal Christmas Special should be online on the next few days – watch out for the playlist here!
What’s On the Box? #5 November 25, 2006
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The Be Be See – You K Gold [Video]
This time out there’s no time-travelling in our cathode ray jukebox – this is straight from the present day.
Sometimes you hear a song that you just can’t shake outta your head – infesting your brain like sticky treacle, you end up singing it to yerself all day. Such is the nature of The Be Be See’s You K Gold, the debut single from this London trio. It’s very probably one of the great releases of 2006 and the video suggests our heroes have perhaps got a fondness for the sublime Look Around You, especially the perfect first series.
Of course the true genius of this song is the octave leap from the second verse on – we present The Be Be See : punning their way to pop perfection.
