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.
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”…
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.
What’s On The Box? #4 November 16, 2006
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Altered Images – Happy Birthday [Video]
Time to go square-eyed again and take a trip into pop’s past with our time-travelling jukebox. No explanation for today’s selection other than pure ecstatic happiness and self-indulgence! Here’s Altered Images and “Happy Birthday” from 1982…
What’s On The Box? #3 November 9, 2006
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Shangri-Las – Give Him A Great Big Kiss [Live on Shindig!]
The latest edition of The Signal is completed and will be online soon! This time round we’ll have an interview with the Pipettes and 2 exclusive session tracks. The girls came to the Signal studio to record special Casio versions of “Judy” and We Are The Pipettes”!
Plus we’ll have a competition to win signed copies of the Pipettes’ debut album!
Meantime here’s some footage, courtesyof Youtube, of one of my favourite ever groups. We played a Shangri-Las rarity on the last show, but here’s chance to see them in action doing one of their best known hits. The 4 girls created a unique soundtrack to those heartbroken tears-down-your-face, croak-in-your-voice moments of your life with their swooping and stomping melodramapop.
Enjoy “Give Him A Great Big Kiss” from a 60s edition of ShinDig and always stay good-bad, but not evil.
What’s On The Box? #2 October 1, 2006
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The Undertones – True Confessions [Live on Old Grey Whistle Test]
So the new show is all done and dusted – a link to the Radio Magnetic page will be up here soon.
Went to since the mighty Maximo Park this week – they had a fantastic night in Belfast and played what amounted to a greatest hits selection! The new songs sounded great – still very poppy and one newbie called (I think) “Babylon” had a punky edge. Great stuff!
Meantime here’s #2 in our continuing series of dips into pop’s cathode ray history. This time a truncated version of The Undertones performing “True Confessions” live. Love the parka, Feargal!
What’s On The Box? #1 September 12, 2006
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“Man About The House”, with Paula Wilcox…
Barbara Lewis – Baby I’m Yours [Live on Shindig!]
So welcome to The Signal’s first Video Jukebox! To complement the sounds you hear on The Signal at Radio Magnetic, I thought it’d be cool to pick out an occasional gem from the YouTube archives that works in vision as well as sound.
Last show we played you Arctic Monkeys’ (with a little help from 747s) brilliant cover of Barbara Lewis’ “Baby I’m Yours”, and here for your delectation is a snippet of Barbare herself performing the song in 1964. I’m not sure what the origin of the clip is – I presume from one of the American 60s pop shows like Shindig! or Hullaballoo. Anyway, we present, Miss Barbara Lewis…
