Thats right Pink Floyd's legendary album recreated live in its entirety, also featuring Floyd drummer Nick Maston keeping time! Goose pimples were on full alert as one of the greatest albums of all time was brought to life (in fact in the middle of an already Floyd packed set) complete with stunning stage effects.
Signs of the Establishment catching up to the rest of us: move over Madonna, Goldfrapp have reportedly been asked to record the new Bond theme for Casino Royale. Wonder if they'll use the animal head dancers in the opening sequence? That would be ACE.
Good news for Snow Patrol fans, despite singer Gary Lightbody's recent throat problems he's still set to play the band's headline set at Latitude Festival the weekend after next. The festival has also announced some posh accommodation for those with extra cash, from luxury winnebagos and caravans, to pre-pitched tents with airbeds and sleeping bags. Check the official site if this sounds like your cup of tea.
Line-up additions have been announced for Bestival's ambient and electronica area, and Benicassim has swelled the ranks of its DJs, VJs and acts.
Bestival's Blue Pavilian line-up Friday 8th September - curated by The Bays Ayota (Live) BJ Cole (Live) Clayhill (Live) DJ AJ Digitonal (Live) Mixmaster Morris Nwachukwu (Nepa Recordings/Attica Blues) Jimpster John Metcalf (Live) Kirk Degiorgiou Palmskin Productions Richard Barbier (Live) The Bays (Live) Will Saul
Saturday 9th September - curated by Rob da Bank Alfredo Annie Nightingale John Stapleton múm (DJ set) Psapp (live) Hodad's Surf Psyche & Liquid Film Experience Sonic Boom Tayo (dub set) Ulrich Schnauss (DJ set)
Sunday 10th September - curated by Rob da Bank Bugged Out! : Chilled Out Chris Coco Christ (live) Maya (laptop live) Nick Luscombe Paddy Freeform (Universal Vibes) Phil Mison Sonic Boom Tayo (dub set) Ulrich Schnauss (DJ set)
Benicassim line-up Thursday July 20 Aldo Linares Erol Alkan Howe Gelb + ‘Sno Angel Scissor Sisters Sr. Mostaza The Sunday Drivers Teitur Tom Verlaine with Jimmy Rip
Friday July 21 12Twelve Archive Babyshambles Chris Brokaw Corazón Dionysos Dominique A Echo and The Bunnymen Ellen Allien & Apparat Eme The Futureheads Green Velvet Le Hammond Inferno feat. Namosh Isolée James Holden Jeff Automatic Manta Ray Michael Mayer Nathan Fake The Ordinary Boys Pixies The Strokes Tiga Tom Cary The Walkmen White Rose Movement
Saturday July 22 Ainara LeGardon Alex Smoke Cocó Ciëlo El Columpio Asesino Editors Franz Ferdinand Gaydjteam Hell Jay-Jay Johanson The Kooks Lou Barlow Matt Elliott Mojave 3 Morning Runner Morrissey Ms. John Soda Nada Surf The Organ Pin & Pon Poni Hoax Radiosoulwax Presents Nite Versions live and 2manydjs + Justice Rufus Wainwright Smart Superpitcher Venus
Sunday July 23 Alexander Kowalski Art Brut Camelot Codec & Flexor Coldcut Depeche Mode dEUS Dominik Eulberg Grupo Salvaje Homeboy Humbert Humbert Ivan Smagghe Jennifer Cardini Madness Matthew Herbert & Valerie Etienne live Placebo The Rakes Rework The Secret Society She Wants Revenge Sylvie Marks We Are Scientists Yann Tiersen zZz
Monday July 24 (wind-down Beach Party) Bilbadino Miss Kittin Queens Of Noize
Best band names this summer = must-see gigs27 Jun 2006
They might not be on your radar, but these are the bands you have to see this summer for their names alone. Sadly :( (colonopenbracket) didn’t make the cut as we kept fighting over how you pronounced it. We are, however, currently angling for a hot date with United Stoats Of America (Listen to the Stoatmix here )
We've not only scouted the best names, we've listened to them as well (mostly). Find out how high the likes of That F***ing Tank scored against Unemployable Welsh Scum, and whether DJ Boba Fatt was any match for the Hot Potato Syncapators! Plus a whole SIX other bands with truly awesome names! It's like Christmas - only with bands!
1) The Rhonda Valley Pigeon Federation – Truck
The Holy Grail of all-time great band names, the Bath-based RVPF add to their mystique by having absolutely no web presence. Not a sausage. Guitarist Lou Stefari has a side project on Rough Trade, the blurb of which says that he sounds "like Nick Drake with storytelling influences". As that description applies to half the modern music industry, we’d be terribly grateful if one of you could send us an MP3.
2) Unemployable Welsh Scum – Tapestry Goes West
Fortified by ex-members of The Duvalls and Ten Benson, this magnificently titled group of DJs are regulars at London’s Barfly and Boogaloo Bar. Spawned from a club night started by The Duvalls in South Wales’s Neath five years ago, the boys now spend their time jetting off around the world bemusing Canadians, playing Johnny Thunders records, and spinning other punk, rock and blues classics. The likelihood of them actually being unemployed scum is therefore probably quite low.
Folk-twangling rockers with intense anger complexes, they reference John Osborne plays and get Very Angry about people who aren’t Christians. Whether they are or not is by the by, but we’re hoping their local vicar turns a blind eye to the fruitier elements of their po-faced rocking. How they’ll fare at the primarily electronic SuperSonic is anyone’s guess; presumably they’ll have a cheese-off with DJ Scotch Egg…
4)The String Cheese Incident – Fuji Rock Festival Proper bluesy bluegrass doesn’t raise its head outside the Deep South that often, so it’s a shame that SCI’s sole plane-hop is hitting Fuji instead of us. Imagine Snow Patrol, if you fed them whisky and abused them for a few years; their songs swing in equal measure between thoughtful blues-tinged rock and all-out bluesgrass craziness. An audience rather than a critic’s band, they’ve sold over 590 thousand albums. Not bad for the old country.
5)Swearing At Motorists – Tapestry Goes West The list of past, present and future members is a good 30 lines longer than the current line-up of the Ohio two-piece. On the road almost constantly since 1996, they’re signed to Secretly Canadian records and count My Morning Jacket among their fans. Think a lo-fi DFA1979 with close-harmony fantasies about topping ex-girlfriends on Valentine’s Day and you’re almost there.
6) Hot Potato Syncopators – A RUM DO If this whole cabaret craze has fallen on deaf ears to you, take a crash course with this 1920s-30s trio (style, not age) who mix music of a certain vintage with comedy and umbrella balancing. Led by the redoubtable Dennis Teeth, any band that offers wind-up gramophone DJ-ing as part of their set demands a sharp tick on your To Do list. Just remember to bring your spats and tip the waiter.
Sadly not the Japanese screamcore group we know you were all expecting, rather a chirpy London rock quartet. They sing about the usual stuff: loneliness, cows and boy racers. It’s all very laid-back and gently eccentric, with loads of character and tunes that get your head nodding rather than you nodding off.
8) That F***ing Tank – Truck The ‘tank (or Death F***ing Tank as they’re known in Belgium) make far more noise than two people with the ordinary number of limbs reasonably should. Armed with vast quantities of rock and some of the best titles around, they’ve toured pretty much everywhere in Europe, which should make their Truck gig pretty darn cool. ‘Making A Meal For Beethoven’ featured on the Obscene Baby Auction compilation in 2004 and their latest album, ‘Day of Death Bono Adrenalin Shock’ is out now on Jealous Records. We want that t-shirt immediately.
The name promises so much, and yet here we are with someone who has a song called ‘I B Wid U’. Let us state this quite clearly: NO. The Amsterdam-based hip-hop and R&B DJ is also part of hip-hop collective Team Gritty, at least one member of which looks like he’s escaped from Location! Location! Location! R&B’s entirely wasted on our cynical ears, so let’s hope he plays some of the Gritty stuff or we’ll be crying into our bandannas.
Abandon your flute, the future of jazz lies in punk. Or junk, as this Norfolk lot call it. If you’re unfamiliar with this particular genre, it sounds rather like a mongoose might when trying to scratch fleas off its back and falling into a kettle cupboard in the process. As with That F***ing Tank, HRMAG tends to hunker down with similarly titled bands like Family Battlesnake and the illustrious Filthy Turd.
Kent boho fest, Electric Gardens, is having a launch party at Herbal in London this Saturday (July 1 for the temporily-inept).
A few of the bands playing the festival will perform sets at the party, including Duels, Simian Mobile Disco, Cagedbaby, Suicide Sports Club, Subbass and Roastgroove. It all starts at 9pm, winds up at 3am and tickets cost £6 before 10.30pm and £7 after.
Electric Gardens is held in Mount Ephraim Gardens, Kent, on August 5 - 6.
