W♥M

Britpop: The Music That Changed Britain

Britpop: The Music That Changed Britain Charting the birth, boom and bust of one of the biggest movements in British music. Britpop revitalised pop music and saw artists emerge that would help rewrite the workings of the music industry. Episode 1 - Sunday, 12 March How the fortunes and rivalries of Blur, Oasis, Suede and Elastica created Britpop as we know it. Featuring fascinating anecdotes and rarely seen archive footage. Episode 2 - Sunday, 19 March 1995 was the year Britpop took over, with the Blur/Oasis rivalry making the national news, Pulp emerging from the sidelines along with a raft of female-fronted bands. Episode 3 - Sunday, 26 March A look at the movement's peak in '96, when Britpop's laddish swagger was inescapable. Episode 4 - Sunday, 2 April Exploring the movement's tumultuous last days, as non-stop hedonism, creative exhaustion, and a change in the national mood combined to change Britpop beyond recognition. Read More Britpop P.S., Other Britpopsters The Bluetones, Space, and Salad will be joining Sleeper. Tour dates: Birmingham, O2 Institute (July 29) London, O2 Forum (August 5) …

There is a four-part documentary on Britpop airing on Channel 5. Unfortunately, the television documentary is geo-locked, so those outside the UK cannot watch this show. Thanks to a friend of mine in London, I was able to watch the show.

Being a massive Britpop fan, all the bands presented in the documentary are familiar to me. I love all the bands… but I felt the documentary actually goes beyond what I considered Britpop, for example, they dedicated a whole segment to Ocean Colour Scene, which I never really group them in Britpop.

Watching the show, and hearing all the great music, it made me put on some old records from Pulp, Oasis, Blur, Elastica, etc.

Again, I knew all about the birth and story of Britpop, as I was a huge fan… but there were some nuances that I didn’t get, because I didn’t live in England. Things like “Lads culture”, spearheaded by the magazine Loaded, caused a backlash from audience. I didn’t think that was a thing, but I can see how these “bros” rocking to music that some indie kids are into… and that might turn off some original fans.

They also had a segment about Three Lions, the “band” led by Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds, English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. Again, I don’t even consider this a Britpop song, even though it was one of the most famous song for England football team’s participation in that year’s UEFA European Championship. It was the sequel to New Order’s “World in Motion”… but it was lost on anyone outside of England to know “Three Lions” as a Britpop song.

Some of my favorite things about the documentary was seeing behind the scenes of Blur’s music video for “Parklife”. I love seeing Space! I love that band. I love seeing footages of Jarvis Cocker invading Michael Jackson’s performance. I remember the Cocker thing, but I never knew what a controversy it was. So many great moments in Britpop’s history.

I love that we got basically a four-hour documentary on Britpop, and it covers a lot of bases… but I felt like it was also missing things that I would’ve at least mentioned briefly. For example, the music movement before Britpop, I would’ve touched on New Wave of New Wave (NWONW) or Madchester or Shoegazing. I might have briefly mentioned some semi-obscure bands like Me Me Me or Northern Uproar or The Longpigs or Theaudience.

I think this is still a great documentary, and I’m just sadden that the BBC decided that the rest of the world can’t see it. I’m hoping that the producers will put this out on Bluray and make it for sale for the rest of the world. I know I will be one of the first to buy it. Many of my non-UK Britpop friends would buy it too. We love this stuff, just make it available for us.

Read more Television.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Birds of a Feather 2019

Read more Birds of a Feather and When Animals Attack!

The Bird and The Bee: Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen Read More The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee will be promoting their fourth album Recreational Love, available on Rostrum Records. Regarding the long gap in album …

THE BIRD AND THE BEE
thebirdandthebee.com

We’re kind of excited to hear that The Bird and The Bee is back with a new cover album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (available August 2 on No Expectations / Release Me Records). This is the follow-up to 2010’s Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.

With the new album, the duo (vocalist Inara George and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin) will set to tour North America to support the new record. As we previously mentioned at their last Minneapolis show in November 2015, Greg Kurstin will not be appearing. Kurstin has famously hated and refused going on tour …. but he will play local (Los Angeles) shows.

I’ve already had a taste of hearing some tracks from the album, and it’s the typical wonderful deconstruction of a “hard rock” music of Lee Roth-era Van Halen, but with the touch of calm, jazz breakdown. The differences are so great that you probably wouldn’t know they were Van Halen songs.

Tour Dates

08/02/19 - Los Angeles, CA @ John Anson Ford Theater #
08/11/19 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
08/12/19 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village *
08/14/19 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
08/15/19 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
08/16/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
08/17/19 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere *
08/20/19 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
08/21/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
08/22/19 - Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn *
08/24/19 - Dallas, TX @ Trees *
08/25/19 - Austin, TX @ Parish *
08/28/19 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
08/29/19 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
08/30/19 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop * ^

# = featuring Dave Grohl on drums and Justin Meldel-Johnsen on bass
* = support from Samantha Sidley and Alex Lilly
^ = additional support from DJ Aaron Exelson

Fat White Family: Feet Read More Fat White Family South London's Fat White Family got a lot of buzz for their insane live shows. The six-piece band just released their debut album Champagne Holocaust …

FAT WHITE FAMILY
fatwhitefamilymusic.com

London’s Fat White Family has been in the news recently. The group recruited DJ Parrot (aka Richard Barratt of Sweet Exorcist) and Jarvis Cocker (frontsman of Pulp) for their remix of “Feet” (taken from their third album Serfs Up!). The “Feet” song is under the “Parrot and Cocker Too” remix title and will be available on a limited-edition white label 12” (limited to 500 units for the world) and digital download. You can buy the record at dominomusic.com.

Tour Dates

20/11/19 – Stylus – LEEDS
21/11/19 – Potterow – EDINBURGH
22/11/19 – QMU – GLASGOW
23/11/19 – Boilershop – NEWCASTLE
24/11/19 – Arts Centre – KENDAL
26/11/19 – Invisible Wind Factory – LIVERPOOL
27/11/19 – Tramshed – CARDIFF
28/11/19 – Institute – BIRMINGHAM
29/11/19 – The Haunt – BRIGHTON
02/12/19 – EartH Concert Hall - LONDON
03/12/19 – EartH Concert Hall - LONDON
04/12/19 – EartH Concert Hall– LONDON
05/12/19 – EartH Concert Hall- LONDON

MAGPIE BLUE facebook.com Edinburgh based singer songwriter Magpie Blue (aka Millie Hanlon Cole) has arrived with her debut single “Just In Time” on June 14th, via Seahorse Music. You can see the 19-year-old at Doune the Rabbit Hole in Stirling on July 20th, 2019.

LOW FLYING HAWKS bandcamp.com Prior to releasing their third album, Low Flying Hawks (featuring Dale Crover from The Melvins and Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle) will be releasing Anxious Ghosts EP on June 28, 2019, via Magnetic Eye Records.

THE OWL-EYES theowleyes.com New Minneapolis band The Owl-Eyes (aka Ethan P. Teel) released his debut album Hallelujah Hysteria on April 19th, 2019. When playing live, Teel is joined on stage with Zahk Peterson on drums, Chris Miller on additional guitars, and Patrick Schenkenberg on bass.

HERON heronband.com Pennsylvania’s Heron is a four-piece instrumental band, featuring Ben Blick (guitar), Boyd Lewis (guitar), Eric Morelli (bass), and Nate Blick (drums). Their second album Sun Release will be out July 19, 2019.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Desert Daze: October 12-14, 2018

Read More Desert Daze October (thank god because we would all melt in the otherwise typical days of such shenanigans) will bestow the 6th installation of the transcendent music festival Desert Daze in Joshua Tree, California. .... Tame Impala Tame Impala is touring the U.S. again in support of their album, Lonerism. Kevin and crew have definitely crafted a piece of art. Loud, incredibly groovy. ... Slowdive Shoegaze band Slowdive are currently on a reunion tour, stopping by Minneapolis' Fine Line Music Café, after being absent from the city in twenty-two years! ....

Ah, the mornings are beginning to be met by a cool autumn breeze...so this must mean desert festival season is under way! Desert Daze has been a myriad of magical atmospheric wonder along with the most entertaining of artists, and this year is no exception. With Tame Impala headlining, it could in fact be the best one yet.

I could enumerate on how this festival is, in my opinion, the Mecca of all festivals, but it is really something to be seen by the own eye to truly comprehend. Along with bizarre instillations and an entire village complete with meditation tent and tea ceremonies, this isn’t just a music festival…it’s an Extraterrestrial Festival.

The California-based festival run by Jjuujju’s guitarist Phil Pirrone has an impressive lineup this year featuring Tame Impala, My Bloody Valentine, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (also a returning band), Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, Shellac, Ty Segall & White Fence, Warpaint, Earth (performing The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull), Malcom Mooney of CAN, Steve Albini, Connan Mockasin, Pond, and Julia Holter, Earthless. There are always surprise guests and DJ’s along with plenty of mind-enhancing activities to attend in between shows.

English dream-pop band Slowdive has recently been added to the festival, which will by far be one of the most sought-out performances of the weekend.

Check out Desert Daze’s amazing lineup poster, featuring the latest additions and broken down by day. Single-day tickets are now available in addition to three-day general admission and VIP passes. Visit the festival’s website for more info.

Desert Daze is happening October 12th-14th, 2018 in Lake Perris, California.

Details and lineup:

Desert Daze 2018
October 12th-14th, 2018
Lake Perris, California
Tickets & Camping: ticketfly.com
More Info: desertdaze.org

Friday Tame Impala Warpaint Connan Mockasin Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats Jarvis Cocker Introducing JARV IS… Hinds Pond IDLES DAKHABRAKHA Wand Gum All Them Witches True Widow Lumerians (Late Night) Mary Lattimore Sons Of Kemet Yonatan Gat & The Eastern Medicine Singers L.A. Witch Kikagaku Moyo + Boogarins + JJUUJJUU (Late Night) Tropa Magica Sugar Candy Mountain Opening Ceremonies With Ian Svenonius

Saturday King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Slowdive Mercury Rev Perform Deserter’s Songs Chelsea Wolfe Wooden Shjips BEAK > A Place To Bury Strangers Shannon & The Clams Kevin Morby Kikagaku Moyo Malcolm Mooney Of CAN Damien Echols – High Magick Boogarins Ex-Cult Deap Vally (Late Night) Cosmonauts Prettiest Eyes (Late Night) Cut Worms JJUUJJUU Ulrika Spacek Al Lover Hand Habits Mannequin Pussy Stonefield Cat Scan

Sunday My Bloody Valentine Death Grips Shellac Ty Segall & White Fence Earth Perform The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull Preoccupations King Khan & The Shrines Julia Holter Earthless Follakzoid Bedouine Escape-Ism The Holydrug Couple Death Valley Girls Imarhan Here Lies Man Sextile Vinyl Williams Gladys Lazer Goon The Mad Walls Talks: Steve Albini

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Britpop At 20

Britpop at Maida Vale Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq Read More Britpop April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, so all month we're dedicating our show to the wonderful movement. NOTE: This was originally shot on video, so if you want the visuals …

For all the month of April 2014, we are celebrating Britpop at 20. "Britpop at the BBC" ran for about two weeks so far, and recently (April 10th), they aired put a new original 30 minute compilation special called Britpop at Maida Vale. This program includes Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq presenting original live performances from Damon Albarn, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Gaz Coombes, and Josh Record (who?!?).

Damon Albarn performed Blur's "For Tomorrow" and "This is a Low", Ellis-Bextor covered of Pulp's "Do You Remember the First Time", Coombes' performed Supergrass' "Caught by the Fuzz", and Josh Record cover Cast's "Walkaway".

If you live in the UK, you can access the program via iPlayer or on the web.

Steve, Louise, and Jo

In other Britpop coverage, check out Sleeper's Louise Wener on BBC Radio 2. Listened to an excerpt. Again, if you live in the states, you're not allowed to listen or watch their programming. Boo to the BBC.

The bbc.com reports that "Common People" by Pulp was the #1 Britpop anthem (as voted by fans), followed by "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve and "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis. Personally, I would have also ranked Elastica's "Connection" and even Sleeper's "Inbetweener" or Echobelly's "King Of The Kerb".... but there were no "female-fronted bands" on the Top 10 list. What gives? Even the Bluetones and Ash made it. I don't even like top lists, but maybe if I feel inspired at the end of April, I will put together a Britpop W♥M Mixtape for you.

Speaking of Echobelly, they are now called Calm of Zero. The duo (Sonya Aurora Madan and Glenn Johansson) announced that they're reissuing Echobelly's first two albums (Everyone's Got One and On) with extra tracks and extra discs full of previously unreleased material. Well worth looking into if you never got the albums the first time around... they are both very excellent albums. All pre-orders will guarantee autographs from both Sonya and Glenn.

Anyway, I've been really pleased at all the Britpop coverage in the media. As a fan of the music movement the first time around, I hope this new generation will like what they hear and be inspired by this short-lived music genre.

As Jarvis Cocker would put it, "Do you remember the first time? I can't remember a worse time."

Sophie Ellis-Bextor remembers the first time...

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Chrisbritpopher writes:
Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 04:25 AM

...The Maida Vale vid isn't a show that was "aired" as such - basically Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq did 5 Britpop special radio shows, each one had someone in doing a live cover version, these were filmed, and have just been added in to the single compilation of cover sessions. In fact they only showed a single thing on TV - this: Britpop at the BBC

Shame really. They could have put a load of Glastonbury stuff up from 94-95, but copyright would all be owned by Channel 4 (who were covering it at that time), not the BBC, so guess they couldn't afford to do that.

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell (36 mins) Read More Britpop April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, according to BBC6 and Radio 1. This whole month, we are devoting W♥M Radio to our love of Britpop. …

April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, so all month we're dedicating our show to the wonderful movement.

NOTE: This was originally shot on video, so if you want the visuals, you'll have to see it on YouTube. Because of YouTube's overly aggressive copyright policies, the music portion was taken out. Absolutely no thanks to Geffen Records.

Here's the Britpop timeline for consideration:

Suede: Suede (Mar 1993); Dog Man Star (Mar 1995)

Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish (May 1993); Parklife (Apr 1994)

Pulp: His n Hers (Apr 1994); Different Class (Oct 1995)

Lush: Split (Jun 1994)

Echobelly: Everyone's Got One (Jul 1994)

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Aug 1994); Morning Glory (Oct 1995)

S*M*A*S*H: Self Abused (Sep 1994)

Shed Seven: Change Giver (Sep 1994)

Sleeper: Smart (Jan 1995)

Elastica: Elastica (Mar 1995)

Salad: Drink Me (May 1995)

These Animal Men: (Come on Join) The High Society (May 1995)

Gene: Olympian (Mar 1995)

Supergrass: I Should Coco (May 1995)

Cast: All Change (Oct 1995)

Bluetones: Expecting to Fly (Feb 1996)

Marion: This World and Body (Feb 1996)

Space: Spiders (Sep 1996)

Ash: 1977 (Jun 1996)

60ft Dolls: The Big 3 (Jan 1997)

Catatonia: International Velvet (Feb 1998)

Here is the video:

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M202: RAH+SXSW

W♥M202: RAH+SXSW (37 mins) Read More SXSW With SXSW 2013 to be in March, we're already starting to see announcements for showcases. For those that can't afford to travel to SXSW every year, the good news is that really good bands are …

It's that time of the year again: SXSW pre-announcements. Expect to hear nothing but SXSW bands from now until April.

Vu, Brody and Rebecca Ann Henry (RAH) on W♥M Radio this week, to talk SXSW.

With over 1,700+ bands on the lineup for SXSW, it's almost way too much. We talked about some of these bands that we're looking forward to seeing at SXSW.

The Magic Numbers - English pop rock band comprising two pairs of brothers and sisters from Hanwell.

Only Real - British band, "they just dropped out".

Jarvis Cocker - Pulp's singer will be giving an extraordinary talk on the meaning of artistic vision at the SXSW 2014 Music Conference. Cocker will be speaking on Wednesday, March 12th from 12:30pm-1:30pm at the Austin Convention Center Room 18ABC.

Strange Talk - Melbourne-based alt-pop four-piece will be releasing their Wind-up Records debut album Cast Away on April 29, 2014. Look for them at CMJ and SXSW.

Jezabels - Sydney-based band, currently on tour in support of their album Prisoner.

Action Bronson - He raps about food.

Rebecca Ann Henry - Singer/songwriter with full band called RaH.

Suzanne Vega - New Yorker singer/songwriter is set to play SXSW 2014 Music Festival on Saturday, March 15th at the Central Presbyterian Church.

We talked about SXSW strategy, free drink tickets, and seeing random free shows

Song of the show is: "Concrete Floor (Amontillado)" by Rebecca Ann Henry.

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vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Vu's Top Ten Albums

Vu's Radiohead Collection Read More Radiohead Radiohead was called On A Friday in 1995 because that's when they met to rehearse. Oasis originally named themselves after a Beatles song called "The Rain" …

Inspired by Emily's post about her top ten greatest album of all time, this is my own personal top ten.

I have to explain many of these albums, because they aren't automatically great to everyone, but they are important albums that shaped me. It's organized by year, and apology in advance for all the Britpop music. There should be a subcategory of top ten greatest Britpop...

Harry Chapin - Greatest Stories Live (1976)

Greatest Stories Live Elektra

Basically the closest thing to a greatest hits album, since I don't believe he ever approved a best of collection. Chapin died in 1981, so all of his albums never gracefully made their way to digital. If you wanted to legally buy his music online pre-2005, it was impossible. Fans enjoyed his music on vinyl and cassettes, and eventually on CD when the format became popular in the early 90s. I picked up Greatest Stories Live because it was one of the very few albums that was released on CD. Remember that the move from analog to digital didn't happen overnight.

Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986)

The Queen is Dead Sire

NME called this album "Greatest Albums of All Time", and I can't say I disagree. This is such a great album, because it is one of those albums that I know all the words to. There are no bad songs on this album and it is the perfect blend between instrumental guitar work by Johnny Marr and the witty lyrics of Morrissey.

Information Society - Hack (1990)

Hack Tommy Boy

A few things why this album is important to me. It was my first compact disc ever so it spent a lot of time on my CD player (since I didn't really own a lot of other albums). This album was not on anyone's radar. It's such a great album as a whole, the whole theme of hacking and computers were really ahead of their time. They were originally from Minneapolis.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)

Definitely Maybe Creation

Possibly the greatest rock and roll album. Met and interview Liam Gallagher in 1995. Saw them at a tiny venue in Sacramento. Did they stand the test of time? Probably not, if you talk to young people today, they probably have no idea who Oasis is. But for a time, the brothers Gallagher were shining so bright that they claimed to be bigger than the Beatles (probably a joke referring to Beatles claiming they were bigger than Jesus) ...

Pulp - Different Class (1995)

Different Class Islands

So many great songs on this album, from their hit "Common People", to the revenge "I Spy", to the dance favorite "Disco 2000", to kinkiness "Underwear". Love Jarvis Cocker and his wonderful songwriting. I have bought this album three times. Lost to lending it to a friend, lost to car break in, but I'm never long without the album. Like an old friend.

New Order - Best of New Order (1995)

Best of New Order Qwest Records

New Order were one of those bands that broke up long before I got into music, so my introduction to their music was through their Best Of album. I liked them enough to track down their previous releases, up until Republic. And although that album was good, but there are some lows on that album that felt uneven for me. So picking a favorite New Order album, I have to go with the greatest hits album simply because it collects the best songs. Also, "Regret" is New Order's finest hour.

Sleeper - The It Girl (1996)

The It Girl Indolent

No one loves Sleeper as much as I do. I own all of Sleeper's singles and albums. Their second album was a slightly superior to their debut Smart album, even though all the singles leading up to the debut album was wonderful. The It Girl's US tracklisting order was different (and missing one track), so I own the UK and US version of this album ... plus the 12" and 10-inch vinyl. Sleeper broke up in 1997, glad I didn't get a Sleeper tattoo.

Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

OK Computer Capitol

I actually forgotten about how much I love Radiohead in my original list. The reason why is that I am no longer such a massive fan. OK Computer and The Bends were the albums that I loved in this time period. During The Bends period, I got to interview Phil Selway live on air on KFSR 90.7. Wow, still can't believe it. Sadly to say, as much as I love Radiohead, I feel no need to rush out to get whatever new albums simply because their music style has changed over the years. Some people say evolved, I say regress!!

Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap (1998)

The Boy with the Arab Strap Jeepster

Most people would pick If You're Feeling Sinister, but I prefer Arab Strap. B&S can do no wrong, up until Catastrophe Waitress and Life Pursuit, of course. I'm not happy with the "Christian" direction they're heading in, but they are still a great band.

Deltron 3030 (2001)

Deltron 3030 Ark

Del, Kid Koala, and Dan the Automator. What a great concept album, and I don't even like rap music! That is saying something, because it transcend music genre, and if a so-called 'rap' album can be on my favorite list, that is saying something to the quality of the music.

Obviously lots of bands that I left off my list: Lucksmiths, They Might Be Giants, Red Hot and Blues, Julee Cruise, Air Supply (don't ask), ABBA, Baxendale, Momus, Camera Obscura, Bikini Kill, Pogues, Franz Ferdinand, Flight of the Conchords, Pet Shop Boys, Elastica, Echobelly, The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder, Looper, Trainspotting, etc. There are a lot of bands albums so restricting it to 10 was hard.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Splendour in the Grass - The Words: Part 3

So the ladies made it to Sunday unharmed...... or did they?

The suspense is killing me!

Read on!

 

Hungry Kids of Hungary

Gem: It only took only a couple of songs for me to become bored with the Hungry Kids set. I was just thinking of leaving when, during ‘Let You Down’, they threw large inflated balls into the crowd. And then suddenly it was fun times again. With the balls keeping me thoroughly entertained I momentarily forgot about the boring music happening on stage. Overall though, the Hungry Kids looked like they had lost their party edge. If it wasn’t for the giant balls, the faint smell of someone smoking a joint nearby, and my vodka spiked beverage I would have fallen asleep from boredom.

The Vaccines

Gem: The banner on stage during The Vaccines read “what did you expect?”, promoting their debut album. The phrase made me think. I expected indie hipsters, playing songs about pretty girls, getting drunk and partying. And that’s exactly what we got. Their songs seem familiar, probably due to the fact that they are influenced by the likes of the Ramones, The Strokes, and Joy Division. I enjoyed the set along with the many others crowded in front of the stage to see them. Although I can't help but wonder how long it will be until they will be categorised as "just another indie band" and be forgotten.

 

Cloud Control

Amb: Cloud Control played Circle of Life from the Lion King during their set for some reason, prompting hundreds of people to start charging up and down the middle of the hill. I have since decided that they were re-enacting the stampede scene from the movie. I really hope they were.

Friendly Fires

Gem: I think you can really judge a band’s performance at a festival by the injuries I have sustained during their set. Bruised butt during The Bronx at Coaster 2009 (unable to sit down for a week), sprained ankle sustained while moshing during Eddy Current Suppression Ring at Homebake 2009, and now Friendly Fires. For some reason Amb left me alone during Friendly Fires, she probably went get food or something, I don’t recall. Anyway it should be noted that it’s all her fault - I should never be left unattended at a music festival. I was thoroughly enjoying the dance tunes from Friendly Fires while dancing up a storm in the outer rim of the mix up tent. I was taking advantage of the extra room with some excellent aeroplane dancing. Aeroplane dancing, for those that don’t know, really just involves a lot of waving and flapping around of arms in aeroplane-like motions. I was totally in the groove, when suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my upper arm / shoulder leaving my arm paralysed. Unable to do aeroplane dancing, I pressed on regardless reverting to downstairs dancing only, a true reflection on the quality of dance-inducing tunes being created by the Friendly Fires. A highlight of the festival.

Kaiser Chiefs

Amb: Surprisingly awesome. I think I stopped paying attention to them shortly after 2006, but apparently they stayed busy and released a whole lot of songs that I know and like without being aware who sings them. They bring the party times, with the singer dude running back and forth across the stage with seemingly inexhaustible energy, despite the fact that they took 30 hours to get here from Japan, for some reason going via China and Melbourne.

 

Pulp

Gem: While we waited for Pulp to take to the stage a series of questions appeared in green on the screen behind the stage – “Do you remember the first time?” and “Do you want to see a dolphin?” (to which then a dolphin then appeared). Eventually Pulp did take to the stage and although the build up was entertaining it went on a little too long for my liking.

Amb: I want to wrap Jarvis Cocker up in greaseproof paper and take him home for later. We saw him a couple of years ago playing his own stuff, and it wasn’t a fraction as good as this. The dancing was unexpected but very impressive. He kept saying it might be the last time Pulp ever plays in Australia. I hope he’s wrong, because that would make me very sad.

Gem: It was hard for me to tear my attention away from Jarvis and his energetic on stage presence, hip shaking dance moves and ongoing chatter with the crowd between songs. I was so focussed on him that I really didn’t notice the rest of the band, although I am sure they existed. The entire set was great, in particular the songs ‘Sorted for E’s and Wizz’, ‘Babies’, and ‘Underwear’. However the stand out highlight was, of course, the final song, ‘Common People’. An unforgettable performance.

Things That Are Better Than Seeing Coldplay

• Eating burgers
• Watching shadow puppets (possibly interactive or possibly we were drunk)
• Dancing to Little Red and Michael Jackson in the Jager Lodge

We were part of the 0.2% of Splendour that didn’t see Coldplay. It wasn’t an accident, we had absolutely no desire to see the band. After Pulp we left the amphitheatre, battled our way against the sea of people who were flooding in to watch Coldplay. Every inch of the amphitheatre was covered.

So....

Despite not being massively impressed with the Splendour line up initially, many of the bands exceeded expectations and it ended up being three days' worth of musical delights. It's always nice when the number of disappointments is largely overshadowed by the number of surprise highlights, resulting in a rollicking good time being had by all. Nice work, Splendour 2011.

See official splendourness here: http://splendourinthegrass.com/

W♥M112: Splendour in the Grass Preview

W♥M112 (50 mins) Listening options: Archive.org: W♥M112

Happy holidays! It's also Sally's birthdate week, as she was kind enough to stop in to preview Splendour in the Grass, which takes place this July 29th to 31st. Doors at 9am, music starts at 11 and ends after midnight. Details at splendourinthegrass.com.

Before we get into the meat of the matter, we did wrap up NXNE, which you can read more details at nxne.weheartmusic.com and all my exploits and adventures and lessons learned.

I did touch a bit on Jo Williamson, not literally, but I kept running into her. Saw Washington played twice, saw loads of other bands too. Disappointed with Brian Wilson, but Men Without Hats, Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield saved the festival. Outro song is "Everybody Loves Me But You" by Hatfield.

Splendour in the Grass 2011 will be covered by the fine Festival Ladies, but Sally and I looked over Coldplay (it was all yellow!), Kanye West (he just shows up everywhere). A good bunch together of Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Gomez, and Regina Spektor in a block is pretty amazing. Also, Grouplove, who I saw a few months ago, they are on the up and up. Yelle, the French girl is pretty hot too. Of course, Foster the People are a really good band, love their songs!

Amazed that DJ Shadow is still around, he pretty much was the first guy that made a whole album of just entirely out of samples.

Song of the Podcast is: British Sea Power's "Georgie Ray" from their new album, Valhalla Dancehall.

BONUS
More Pulp than you can stand. Fitz & The Tantrums are playing the same night as Pulp, so Sally will have to miss out.

Britpop class of '95 article available on independent.co.uk spotlights on Justine Frischmann, Louise Wener, Debbie Smith, David Roundtree, and Tim Brown. Where are they now and what they are doing. Kind of glad to see Debbie Smith is still playing in several bands (I met her a long time ago in a bar and she asked about my t-shirt - it was my penpal's artwork of Morrissey).

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on mypodcast.com

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Splendour in the Grass - Update

So Splendour in the Grass is getting closer (29th to 31st of July) and we've got a little teaser video for you.

Have you forgotten who's playing?

How could you?!?

You can see the likes of Coldplay, Kanye West, Pulp, Janes Addiction, The Hives, Mogwai, The Living End, The Grates, Glasvegas, DJ Shadow ... oh loads!

There are some tickets still available for the days only (not camping). You can get them through moshtix here. 

For the full line up and all the information you need to sort it out head over to: http://splendourinthegrass.com

Also, have a listen to Vu and Sally talk about the festival and some of the bands that you'll see there (amongst other fabulously interesting things) here: W♥M109

 

Sally

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