The Good
Ladies and Gentlemen, sit back, pour yourself a whiskey and exhale deeply before hearing this news: Avatar only won three awards and was resoundingly beaten in the Oscars by The Hurt Locker. It might not be much, but as Mike Patton might say, it’s the small victories, the cankers and medallions, which keep us going.
Good news, Mark Lanegan fans. The uniquely gravelly voiced former Screaming Trees man and sometime Queens of the Stone Age collaborator is returning for a long overdue solo tour, following a stint with fellow drug-bruised antihero Greg Dulli as The Gutter Twins. He’ll be calling at Bristol’s ‘bar’ Academy 2 on the 23rd of April. Pour yourself another whiskey, it’s only fitting.
In further news that makes our Ents Editor weak at the knees, longtine American rock survivors Melvins are releasing their 18th album of sludgy riffs on June 1st . The album, catchily titled The Bride Screamed Murder will be their fourth for Mike Patton’s Ipecac imprint and their 3rd with the double drummered set up featuring Big Business. Well we’re excited, so you should be too.
The Bad
We really wish that musicians would stop dying, so it’s with great sadness that we ask that Mark Linkous, better known by his recording name of Sparklehorse, is allowed to rest in peace. Mark was found dead since we last went to press having shot himself with his own rifle. An extremely talented artist who transcended traditional concepts of Americana by peppering his compositions with darkened lyrics and otherwordly echoes, he was a wonderfully powerful live act when impact experienced him. His last album, a collaboration with Austrian electronic musician Christian Fennesz, was a fitting testament to his versatility and skill. As many have said, it was his ability to make the ugly and the twisted feel beautiful that is the ultimate and saddest irony about his passing.
Uh-oh, Hollywood’s running out of ideas again. This week it’s the Police Academy and Honey I Shrunk The Kids franchises that are being repackaged and revamped. Still, at least we get the guy who does the sound effects back on our screen. He was great.
The Ugly
So Sue Me, Part 1: Brooklyn art rockers Gang Gang Dance have claimed royalties from Florence Welch and her Machine for rather cheekily nicking the hook from their brilliant, desert blushed ‘House Jam’ track to use in her very own ‘Rabbit Heart’ number. Florence has admitted she intended the intro to her massive hit to be a homage to the innovative threesome, but has conceded that she probably owes them a little money for the privilege, given how successful she’s made their idea.
So Sue Me, Part 2: Pink Floyd are suing EMI as they claim the packaging of their songs online as individual downloads is a violation of their contract with the company which states that all tracks must be sold as an album. Shine on you crazy diamonds.
So Sue Me, Part 3: The Hurt Locker might have won six Oscars but it isn’t stopped them being sued. Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver is claiming that the film’s characters were based on his three man bomb defusal squad and is asking for compensation for both his life story and the term “The Hurt Locker”, which he claimed was his own creation. Writer Mark Boal has denied the claims, despite admitting that he followed Sarver and his team for 30 days in Iraq in order to write the Playboy article which was the basis for the film script.
We’re certain you’ll already be aware of this , but it needs saying anyway: BBC Director General Mark Thompson has announced the closure of radio stations 6music and BBC Asian Network. These stations provide some of the most interesting and diverse content which we feel should constitute the mainstay of a public service broadcaster’s output, and we’d encourage our readers to sign up to any one of the numerous petitions online protesting against the cuts. Our own Ents Editor Philip Bloomfield takes on URB Station manager Lewis Brimblecombe and argues that this is the beginning of the end of radio: turn to page 31 to see them duke it out.
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