Slight panic today when I realised that a lot of the blog archives have vanished. Although anything before February seems to be lost forever, the rest is being backed up right now. Hopefully this will also mean that those archives will be more manageable.

I seem to have a compulsive urge to talk about Big Brother and the World Cup at every opportunity, but I've decided to take it to the discussion board in an attempt to keep this blog page a BB/WC free-zone, and also to breathe a bit of life into that ailing message board!

Oh yeah, and the DJ Shadow sample I've been curious about seems to be from a record by Colonel Bagshot - thanks to the Audio Galaxy discussion page for helping solve that.

Even more stuff - a review of Solex has been added.

How am I supposed to concentrate on this when the World Cup, Big Brother and best of all 24 seem to taking over my life. I spent a while last night trying to work out some complex spread betting on the group stage of the world cup, but I haven't committed to anything yet. I'm not sure if I should fill this site with football when you can get that all over the web, so I'll try and stay off it here.

Despite all this, I have updated the Yo La Tengo gig page with a review of their fantastic "Sounds of Science" show in London recently. Incidentally, if anyone is having trouble getting a 'The Sounds of the Sounds of Science" CD try the band's own website.

Happy birthday Mum (and Bob Dylan!)

I still haven't resolved that DJ Shadow puzzle but I'm now convinced it isn't Jon Anderson, although it must be from an early 70s prog tune. By the way, there's a rumour that the 'Six Day War' will be Shadow's next single, although the title will be changed to 'Six days', I imagine because of the sensitive nature of the Middle East at the mo. (The Six Day War was the point when Israel claimed its current territories from Egypt and Jordan.)

Anyway, back to more trivial matters - new reviews of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Joie/ Dead Blonde Girlfriend have been uploaded.

Don't forget that this weekend in London sees a lot of gigs organised by the fine Track and Field Organisation. Check their website for more details.

Funny, I was just listening to the aforementioned John Kennedy show (yes, Desert Hearts are on in about half an hour) and he was singing the praises of DJ Shadow as he had seen him in the Astoria tonight. He played an almost soft-rock tune called 'The Six Day War' from the forthcoming Shadow album, which sounds a bit like Yes if you ask me, but who is that singing - surely it's not Jon Anderson? Does anyone know?

After four years in London I finally got to a test match (England v Sri Lanka) at Lord's. I should really make a list of things I haven't done, and do them before I move away. That's one down today!

I forgot to mention how good Desert Hearts were the other night. I haven't seen them in about four years and they really have gone up a few gears. The new drummer (well, he's new to me but he plays on the album) is outstanding. I'll put up a review soon but hopefully you can hear the gig this week on XFM. It'll be on the John Kennedy show on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (check the XFM listings for proper details). Don't forget you can also get XFM if you've got Sky Digital.

Well, I could have spent tonight uploading new stuff but Geocities are doing "scheduled system maintenance" so I can't even amend the A-Z !!! Anyway, I'll update the links tonight and try to get this blogger archive into decent shape as well.

I've had a funny week actually.
In the course of my work I spoke to Bono (!) on Wednesday and I was on Thai TV on Friday. Oxbow at the Verge on Wednesday night was actually quite an unnerving experience (Jason from Wolf Colonel said afterwards that he was "scared pretty much all the way through it"!), and most bizarre of all I found a broken folk fiddle on the tube on the way home! If anyone genuinely wants it back please email me.

Gigs to go to in London over the next few days-
tonight: Wolf Colonel + Econoline + Stanton + Oxbow, the Verge, Kentish Town £5
tomorrow: X-FM XPOSURE LIVE: Ten Benson plus 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster / Desert Hearts £5.
Wolf Colonel are great, with a kind of Guided By Voices/ early Lemonheads influence, and I think the Desert Hearts show is their London debut, so get there early!

Meanwhile Lambchop play the Empire in Belfast, maybe that's an excuse to dig out both of our Kurt Wagner interviews, one of which was actually never published come to think of it.

Hmmm, too zonked to add new stuff as I'm inbetween nightshifts and I'll be en route to Belfast for the weekend very shortly. I'll be at the Sun Ra Arkestra show on Saturday night, which is also the finale of the most successful Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival to date. Gillian was at the sold out David Kitt show last night, apparently it was brilliant so she may even write a review of it for this very site.

A new live review of the Feline Dream has been added. If you go to their own Gigarama pages you can see some of the stunningly repetitive photos I took that night with their disposable camera.
I had a strange coincidence the other night as I decided to go and see Cornelius in the Royal Festival Hall (capacity 2,600) and my ticket number meant that I was sitting beside Nick from the Feline Dream, although neither of us knew the other was going! Cornelius was fantastic, gig of the year so far and all that, although the Gentle People (main support) wore the crowd's patience very thin with their Rod Jane and Freddy shenanagins. Oh boy.
More reviews tomorrow hopefully, I really should have added Jon Spencer and Joie tonight but I'm using the PC in work and they're on the Mac at home - doh!
And finally, it looks like I will be living back in Belfast from mid-July onwards.

I'm a bit behind as usual, not least because I've been going to a lot of gigs. Friday saw a great show from Clinic, which somehow turned into a bit of an all-nighter with Jarvis Cocker DJing at Electrowerkz. I realise that this sounds highly glamorous but it meant that I spent most of Saturday in bed!

Recieved safely but drifting aimlessly amongst the backlog is the first demo from Belfast band the Embers (ex-Nation's Spies) which I promise I will do a review of very soon. Meanwhile this glowing review can be found on Fastfude.

Finally, I've been very distracted from the site as I am planning to move back to Belfast quite soon. Expect proper details later in the week, as I'm just awaiting for dates to be confirmed. Whoooo-hoooo!

Web hosting news - GeoCities will be performing scheduled maintenance starting Friday, May 17th, 2002 at 3:00 pm BST (GMT+1). Service will be restored the morning of Sunday, May 19th, 2002. What this means for us is that most of the reviews and interviews will be inaccessible for that time, therefore it would make sense to come back on Sunday night with the reviews completely up to date. The blogger pages, discussion board and link page will be unaffected.

Another thing is that, if you visit the message board without being logged in to ezboard you won't see the most recent announcement at the top. Strange.

Wow, that was a good one, ESG were totally great last night. On the downside, the Mantronix DJ set was a disappointment - it started OK but descended into a hellish mid-80s electro nightmare. I have over-indulged a bit much so I won't be able to go to Bootylicious (a night of the best bootleg mixes) in 93 Feet East between 7pm and 10.30. I may be bored and in a very fragile hungover state today, but hey, i'm Kermit!!

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

I got my tickets for ESG and Mantronix (Bagley's, Sat night) but whilst searching for more info on ESG I found two bands of the same name - the other are a bunch of scary gangsta rappers not to be confused with the infamous Bronx electro-soul-funk-punk pioneers. This promises to be a really good night.

I spent the entire afternoon in Curzon Soho cramming in movies. I saw Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mama Too) and 24 Hour Party People. The first one is currently the second highest grossing movie in London, and is rare in that it's actually a thought provoking sex comedy about coming-of-age. With this and last year's Amores Perros, Mexico is fast becoming a film industry to be taken seriously.
I really enjoyed 24 Hour Party People, probably helped by the fact that I saw it in a cinema with a great sound system. I thought Steve Coogan was great as Tony Wilson, playing him as an idealist gone askew, or a 'prat' if you prefer. Some great music and great cameos too (Mark E Smith!).

Full marks for BBC2's Snooker coverage (which I caught by accident of course!), who opened the show with Jimmy the Exploder from the first White Stripes album! Apparently Mr Jimmy White had a bit of an outburst yesterday or something....

Feeling a bit flu-like today - I've obviously been out too much in the sunshine. I compensated for this by staying in, sleeping a bit, sorting out my mess of mini-discs (that explains why there's so much old stuff in the 'current tunes' list opposite!) and writing some new content. New reviews of Danish band Diefenbach and Godspeed You Black Emperor! are online now.

Amongst the obvious search words, recent site statistics tell me that some people found this site by typing "index of drunk girls" and "arab courtship rituals". I hope they were satisfied with the results.
Surprisingly I have quite a lot of time off this week, so I have no excuse for not getting the site updated. I may even stay in the odd night, although I have engagements with Teenage Fanclub, Jad Fair and Arab Strap tonight, and Do Make Say Think and the Rock of Travolta on Tuesday.
Apart from going to three gigs on Saturday I have spent most of the weekend getting my MP3s back in shape after a long period of neglect. I followed the advice of Wisdom Goof on our discussion page and I've been downloading like mad (well, as mad as a 56k modem will allow).

(and coming soon to the review pages - Godspeed You Black Emperor, Riviera, Diefenbach, the Feline Dream, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ballboy, Joie/ Dead Blonde Girlfriend, Yo La Tengo, Solex - so much material in fact, that the eagerly awaited (cough) record review section may be on hold for a while)

Nope, I'm not at All Tomorrow's Parties - I'm back to normal after a fine few days in Belfast. I have also become an uncle since the last time I posted here!

My gig-point-average may be greatly increased after tomorrow when I am attempting to attend three gigs in a day -
Joie and Dead Blonde Girlfriend are doing their anti-folk thing for free at Notting Hill Arts Club between 4pm and 7.30pm, then it's Yo La Tengo improvising soundtracks to underwater nature movies at the Barbican at 8pm (£10- £17.50), then Solex (it's not a secret anymore) at the free aftershow at the Barbican from 10.30pm. Phew!

(and I really will get the site updated over the next week..)

Happy birthday Gillian (mrs slowthrills)
This week's excuses for not posting....
Out a lot, I managed to see shows by the Feline Dream (a successful London debut!), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Ballboy and I've been madly busy in work - I've been technically directing a radio play believe it or not!
Internet highlights - this Onion piece has had everyone in hysterics this week, and I got to watch the video for Olympic Lifts 'International Hex'. They're on tour in England at this very moment.
Anyway, I'm off to Belfast for five days, so expect tons and tons of new stuff when I get back (cough...)

Hmmmm, my plug for the Feline Dream show should have gone up last night (note the time it was written!) but somehow didn't. Oh well, you all know now anyway. I shall be there as my dental drama went without a hitch.

I've been in such a good mood since yesterday, maybe it's due to the weather, maybe it's because I bought the Desaparecidos CD (listened to it 3 times in a row!!) AND Arthur Mathews's 'Well Remembered Days' which had me grinning away like a lunatic on the tube home last night. I'm always a bit put off when people say that books are "hilarious", but this really is a funny satire.

In case you don't know, this Saturday sees the London debut of the Feline Dream. They're playing the Fan Club at the Verge, 134 Kentish Town Road, Camden Town, NW1. More details from Feline1 himself on our discussion board. They are actually headlining I believe, though Marcel and resident band Riviera are also on the bill. Follow the links above for more info.
I hope to be there, but it depends on what happens at the dentist on Friday morning!

What looked on paper like a potential gig-of-the-year - namely Cannibal Ox and Four Tet at 93 Feet East on April 9 - has been cancelled. Does anyone know why? Please don't tell me it has anything to do with the Queen Mum's funeral!

Whilst I was at the aforementioned Diefenbach gig on Saturday, Marina from Organ sold me a copy of their latest issue. Amazingly they're up to number 73 !! I've been reading it on the tube the last couple of days and it really is brilliant to find that they're so enthusiastic after all these years. It puts me to shame for only producing 13 issues of Weedbus and it actually made me a bit nostalgic for print fanzines in general - there's nothing to stop me putting out Slow Thrills issue 1 very soon though (nothing except laziness that is!).
Anyway, Organ is fab as ever, lots of positive reviews of unknown bands (Stoopi, HHH, Percy, the Dukes of Nothing etc, etc) as well as established stuff like Bad Religion and the Cardiacs (well they have to sell copies you know!), so grab a copy if yoou can. no doubt there'll be another one along next month.
www.organart.com in case you missed the link above.

Hopefully April will see more action on these pages. Coming soon, reviews of Godspeed You Black Emperor and Diefenbach, and in the course of the next month, some new interviews - I promise! I'm still thinking about the print edition too. I may have more time towards the end of the month to put it together. more later....

A curious coincidence happened yesterday. I listened to 'Deja Vu' by Crosby Stills Nash and Young for the first time in YEARS in the morning, then went to a gig in Notting Hill Arts Club where te first band on played a decent cover of 'Almost Cut my hair' off that very album. Spoooooky. I didn't catch their name though - anyone know??

A couple of new reviews added before I take myself to Belfast for a www-free weekend. The Church of Simian and Fridge are online now.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!
I saw this lot for the first time since Nov 2000 last night at Hackney Ocean, and once again I was amazed by them. It is only the start of the tour so I won't give too much away, but if you're going to see them you may witness...
1. a 2hr 30 min set
2. a superb 30min+ new piece which starts with what sounds like guitar strings being wound in a spring, and goes into ambience and relatively straightforward rock riffs
3. some new visuals (mixed, cut and looped live as usual) - this time it's proper colour film as well
4. an experimental cut-up of a George W Bush speech
On a good night (and believe me this was yet another good night!) they are one of the best live bands in the world. Don't miss them.

I'm off to see the mighty Godspeed You Black Emperor tonight in Hackney. Although I'm a bit puzzled at them touring without any new material on release I really don't need any excuse to go and see them. Hopefully a review of that (as well as overdue reviews of Simian, Fridge and Riviera) will be up before the weekend. Some record reviews too if I really get on a roll!

I haven't posted here since I went to see Mulholland Drive last Wednesday. I know that most people who are at all interested in it have seen it by now, so I won't go at length about it even though it has haunted me all week. The guy who sold me my ticket has never heard of the movie so he asked me what it was about. Two and a half hours later I couldn't have given him a concise answer. Without wanting to spoil the plot, I would say that It's a mix of dream and nightmare which deals with the themes of loss, regret and ambition, and it also manages to be a homage to the Hollywood of old. I can see why some people think it's a mess, but I loved it and look forward it to seeing it again. Will it make more sense next time? Will it still haunt me as much as this first encounter? I don't know.

Installed a new search gizmo up at the top of the page - it seems to work! Basically I was finding that a lot of people were Googling their way here and couldn't really pick stuff out of the blogger archives that easily. The entire site has been indexed by it (300+ pages) so finding stuff is no longer a problem (let me know if it screws up though).

We visited London Zoo yesterday and in true Slow Thrills style, the Two-Toed Sloth entertained us in slow-motion. Which reminds me that I must post a few new reviews up over the next few days.

Since I got this Sitemeter gizmo on this site I've been able to see particular internet searches that have led people here. Someone even translated it into French today!
The most popular searches have been for the Ninja Tune act Fog and Northern Ireland band the Amazing Pilots, which is unfortunate as there isn't really much info on here about them - just some old gig listings.

It seems the self-created hype around the pornographic pictures on the sleeve of the forthcoming Oxes album has caused problems for online music zine Pitchfork. The zine has been taken down by its ISP for posting some of the pics. Is this for real or just a promo gimmick??
For what it's worth, the Oxes label Monitor Records would appear to have withdrawn the artwork. I smelt a rat over the whole thing when I saw this picture of the public protest!

I haven't really felt like posting much as I'm on heavy penicillin to treat a dental abcess - ewww!
Anyway, I've been to see a few things -
1) the Church of Simian last Saturday in Brixton. I should be uploading a proper review of this very soon, but suffice to say it was as good as everything they promised, with the addition of a man in a monkey suit who scared the life out of me when he was wandering through the dimly lit crowd!
2) In the Bedroom. I wasn't really in the mood for this quiet and depressing Bergmanesque movie, although I can see what the fuss is about. It is very well made (and it's the director's debut, isn't it?), and in terms of delicately creating the overall mood of the family's grief it really works.
3) Fridge at the Scala last night. Mixed reactions here. A 70 minute set which had some fine moments, but I have to say about 20 minutes of it was absolute tosh. The jazzier, dubby stuff worked well but some of it stretched the audience's patience too far. Full review very soon.

A few corrections to the Church of Simian details - this Saturday at Mass in Brixton, £7 adv.
live (the old testament) features Simian, Minotaur shock and Chinese Burn
DJs (the new testament) features David Holmes, Alison Goldfrapp, Simian mobile disco, Appliance, Corporate hospitality, Eat your own ears Djs, Foundsounds, Capitol K, Source djs
on til 3am, so I imagine they'll fit most of it in!

Well I did say get there early to avoid disappointment, but didn't take my own advice. I also didn't realise how small Cherry Jam is, so when we walked past just after 7pm and the rope was across we just assumed it wasn't open yet. Actually that meant that it was full, and although we queued until 8.15pm we were told there was little chance of getting in unless a lot of people left. So no Clientele gig for us then, and we ended up in the Coach and Horses in Soho instead!

Short notice (!) but the Clientele are playing in a few hours at the Rough Trade night at Cherry Jam, 58 Porchester Road London W2
Line up is....The Clientele + VV Hotel, DJ  11 till 2  Erol Trash £5 or free 'til 8pm, £7 after 11pm
Get there early to avoid dissappointment, nearest tubes Royal Oak, Bayswater or Paddington.

That Kidd Dynamo review is online at last - I've even given them their own page this time!

Nearly two weeks since I posted here - I've no excuses really, just laziness.
Over the last few days I have been very active though. I've been out a lot, went record shopping in Soho (which mean there'll be some reviews on here too!), and finished recording a radio drama. Which was nice.
I also installed a sitemeter on here, so I can see where you're all coming from.
Oh yeah, and I made an appointment with the dentist I met at the Kidd Dynamo show. Isn't it fantastic when a plan comes together.

Some gigs coming up in London...
Saturday 2 March - the Church of Simian - special event at Mass in Brixton featuring Simian, Minotaur Shock, Appliance, Capitol K and Dj sets from Simian, David Holmes and Alison Goldfrapp. Only £7 (shurely shome mishtake???) and open from 10pm til 3am.
Sunday 3 The Notwist 93 Feet East - £8, 7.30pm
Tuesday 5 The Walkmen Barfly at the Monarch - £5, 8.30pm
Wednesday 6 Fridge Scala - £8.50, 7.30pm

I was mildly miffed that I missed the White Stripes 'secret' show in 93 Feet East on Saturday, especially as I got an email telling me about it. Despite the fact that I was in work about 5 minutes away from the Rough Trade Shop I didn't have enough free time to get out and get a ticket (priced at the princely sum of £5 !!), and no-one else was around to get them. Oh well.

Last night I went to see Kidd Dynamo's 'proper' London debut - the first time over here with a full band. I haven't had time to add a full review, but in brief I'll tell you that it was damn good and they got a really enthusiastic reception from the decent sized crowd. The review won't be posted til Tuesday as I'll be in Belfast this weekend. (that's still pretty quick work for me though!)

One thing I was surprised by was the state of Camden High St these days. Although I don't live that far from it, I hadn't been there for a while, and I noticed it's got even more sleazy and run down than ever.
The other thing that surprised me was that I found a dentist's business card in my pocket this morning. I remember talking to her at the gig, but I'm wondering now if I've actually made an appointment. Huh?

The Dido Demographic (from the Guardian). I should dedicate it to the guy who has just moved out of the flat above me. I can't be too cheeky as I actually have 13 of the 20 CDs mentioned - although I don't play them over and over again!

Happy birthday Debbie! (and Abraham Lincoln),
Nah, fuck it, I gave Death Cab for Cutie a miss in favour of many pints in the local, but I will definitely be at Kidd Dynamo tomorrow night.

Gig-going drought nearly over! I may go and see Death Cab for Cutie at Camden Monarch on Tuesday 12, and I'll definitely be at Delta + Kidd Dynamo in the same venue the following night.
Also in London on Wednesday 13 is the return of Cornershop (at the Scala) and a Strange Fruit night featuring Electrelane and Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia at 93 Feet East.

Isn't it funny how you don't notice some things until it's too late. Last week French composer Yann Tierson played the Royal Festival Hall on the strength of his soundtrack work on Amelie and the Dream Life of Angels, and I gave it a miss. I've only realised that he also wrote 'La Dispute' on Third Eye Foundation's recent remix album, which is enough reason for going to see him on its own! Oh well, maybe next time.

Gigs!!
Much NME related activity - tonight is the Aphex Twin at the Astoria (it's sold out), and tomorrow is Trail of Dead/ Clinic/ The Faint/ British Sea Power, also at the Astoria. I think you may be able to locate tickets for this (£11) but the damn thing starts at 6pm!!
Saturday's freebie ROTA session at Notting Hill Arts Club is a bit of an epic with Kranky artistes Amp headlining, ably supported by Portal, Teleran records acts 2 By Bukowski ('a Greek GYBE' apparently!) and Yellow 6, as well as Goddie Pal and Lucky Dragons. Starts at 3pm, over by 8.30pm, all free.
More later....

Disco 2002 ! Nick Cave will cover Pulp's Disco 2000 in a waltz style for the B-side of their new single 'Bad Cover Version' (you see!?). At least that's what it says here.

Anyway, I've had a very relaxed weekend in Belfast - apart from the return of my notorious hypochondria as I visited the doctors with what I thought was the onset of DVT. Predictably, I am absolutely fine. Back in London now, bored in work, so hopefully able to get some new stuff onto the site this week.

I've added a list of "other music related blogs" to the menu on the left. I've actually only met two of the bloggers in question (Anne Marie and Nine), so it's not some sinister clique - actually they're just good pages that I found whilst browsing about on a nightshift!

Coming soon: new links, including a lots of music-related blogs that I have stumbled across in the last month.
I have to mention The Church of Me in advance though, as it is so well written it has actually made me keen to investigate So Solid Crew (specifically the 'Fuck It' mix CD) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; two slices of popular culture which I just do not get. His piece on Kate Bush is also great, so pay him a visit.
Plenty more blog related links on the way!

Some decent records actually came out this week (!), here they are...

ALBUMS
the Chemical Brothers Come with us
less collaborative than earlier, pushing more into warped psychedelic stuff.
Neil Halstead Sleeping on Roads
Unfairly under-rated Mojave 3 singer/songwriter's debut solo album - he plays everything on it as well.
Nobukazu Takemura Sign
digital companion to the limited 12" released in late 2001 - guest appearances from John McEntire and Douglas McCoombs of Tortoise
Steve Reich Triple Quartet
excellent new cd from the king of minimalism - rave reviews in the wire and the guardian - his best for years apparently

SINGLES
Fog Pneumonia
a one man band and Ninja Tune’s first ever singer/songwriter/producer - acoustic strumming meets turntable action -a bit like Neil Young meets Coldcut! Great debut single.
the Clientele / Clock Strikes Thirteen split single
another in the drive-in series of reverse split singles , where each band covers the other in this case Clientele cover " six foot drop' and cst perform "we could walk together"
the Cooper Temple Clause Film maker / Been training dogs
more energetic than the stuff I usually listen to but this is really good stuff- tipped for great things this year.

Well my nightshift is going a bit better than usual, due to ITV showing New Order at Reading Festival in 1998, which I was actually at. I'd forgotten that they did a flat-out 'greatest hits' that night, it was fantastic. They even played 'Atmosphere'!

January - what is it good for? I've even been driven make up a lovely new A-Z index (long overdue) which collects our 60+ interviews and 80+ reviews into a single table. Thank God that's done!

Stepping the production drive next month - lots of new stuff on the way. Meanwhile, I'm treating this like a proper weblog and putting in links to stupid stuff like this. Enjoy!

In the last ten days - hardly any hits, hardly any posts, no interesting records released, no gigs to go to.
Hopefully, this will change soon. Today (if I wasn't working!) I would have gone to see Fog at the Notting Hill Arts Club, then Stars of the Lid and Fuxa at Kosmische (Upstirs at the Garage). Next weekend I will be away so I will miss Stars of the Lid again (31st - Arts Cafe, E1), Stereolab + Brigitte Fontaine (1st Feb - Royal Festival Hall), High Llamas and Simian (2nd - Queen Eliz Hall) and Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia (2nd - ROTA show at NHAC). Maybe I'll not go to any gigs at all this year!

At least I've managed to solve my home ISP problem as I have defected to the corporate might of AOL, although I wouldn't dream of using their browser. You should see what it does to some people's pages!

There are actually some decent records coming out this week, so a new release update will follow when I get time.

If anyone who can't get MTV2 wants to see the White Stripes 'Lego' video for 'Fell in Love with a Girl', go here.

Across the Line (BBC Radio Ulster) has put together a list of acts from Northern Ireland who might establish themselves in 2002. It paints a broad picture, taking in everything from metal to dance music. I would have added the Amazing Pilots, the Feline Dream, Some Days Better and Torgas Valley Reds in place of a few of their choices, but overall it's pretty spot on.

Right, no football today, so I've had plenty of time to get on with Slow Thrills stuff. At least I would have had if VirginNet (my home ISP) hadn't decided to suspend the freephone number I've been using for over a year. At least I assume that's what they've done, but I can't receive emails on my home Virgin account so they can't tell me! I had to resort to using AOL this afternoon, which does such funny things with certain page design and jpgs that I'd rather not use it. Although VirginNet seems fine at the mo, if anyone has been emailing myself or Gillian on our home Virgin Net addresses, please use another method to contact us! The search for a new ISP gets underway tomorrow.

I've been very busy with the African Cup of Nations - still at least has work has got interesting again! Obvious bets - Nigeria and Cameroon, outside bet - Senegal.
As for this website, I should be able to upload a fully updated index very soon, together with some news as to the content of Slow Thrills issue one.

I've just returned from a quiet few days in Belfast. I finally got to see Lord of the Rings (in the fantastic new Warner Village cinema at the Odyssey) and bought a load of CDs from a big bargain bucket in Our Price. I got Tom Waits 'Asylum Years', Pere Ubu 'The Modern Dance', Lou Reed 'Berlin' (all vinyl replacements y'see), Stereolab 'Sound Dust', Kingsbury Manx 'Let You Down' and Swans double CD incorporating Cop/ Greed/ Holy Money/ Young God (that's four albums!) - all priced at £3 each - and 'Eph' by Fridge for £2 as it has a slightly damaged sleeve.
No music news of any description to report, but then I have only logged back in for the first time in a week. More later.

News of the new season at ROTA, the free Saturday afternoon showcase at the Notting Hill Arts Club. Fog (on Jan 26th) and Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia (on Feb 2) look like they could be worth checking out.

Jan 12th Reverend Pike, The Blue Minkies
Jan 19th Good Time Pony (+ more TBC)
Jan 26th Ninja Tune presents: Fog
Feb 2nd Shifty Disco birthday celebrations: Theremin, Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia, Eeblee
Feb 9th Teleran Records (Japan) present: 2 Bybukowski, Yellow 6 (+ 1 more TBC)

Although the news seems to have gone unreported for nearly a week, Esquivel (the octagenarian Mexican much beloved of Stereolab and Cornelius) died in early January. I've posted a full report on the discussion board.

The new index will have to wait, but I've uploaded a review of the Feline Dream's Kill a Spyde show at last.

I seem to have overlooked it, but the Track and Field Organisation have been having their annual Winter Sprinter in London this week. I didn't even know about the Amazing Pilots on Monday night, I still haven't seen them! Anyway, arguably the best show of the week is on tonight (Thurs 10th) - when Electrelane and Saloon play the Toynbee Hall Arts Cafe in Commercial St (E1). £5 in and it kicks off at 8pm.

I've added a review of Belle and Sebastian's Christmas show in Belfast to the gig pages. I'm not deliberately ignoring the Frames I just didn't get there in time to see them!

So the tube fare has gone up? Thankyouverymuch London Underground.
Today I ventured into central London and i couldn't believe how quiet it was around Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. Tourists are so thin on the ground that a couple of the 'souvenir shops' (where you buy the tacky union jacks and big ben replicas) have actually bitten the dust.
Anyway, my main purpose was to see the movie Ghost World, which I was kicking myself for missing as loads of people have put it in their end of year lists. I have to say that I think it deserves the praise. It's basically the story of two recent high school graduates Enid and Rebecca (played by Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansen) who are pretty disillusioned about what to do next. Reebecca takes a job in a coffee shop while Enid takes "a remedial art class for retards and fuck-ups" and ends up making friends with Seymour (Steve Buscemi) a middle-aged loner who prides himself on his collection of 78rpm records. It isn't just a movie about adolescent rebellion, and it's clear that while Rebecca may just be going 'through a phase', Enid's constant striving for individuality and rejection of the mainstream is more than likely going to be a permanent part of her life.
It will also strike a chord with anyone who has read 'No Logo' as it makes a lot of points about mall-life, McJobs and corporate culture (the Masterpiece video store is one memorable scene). The decline of American culture and traditions is one of the main concerns of cartoonist Daniel Clowes, author of Ghost World, the comic book on which the movie was based. This story could be taking place in Anytown, USA where the malls are filled with Starbucks and Gap.
This is a very original and thought provoking film, it's funny too, and the characters are very well portrayed, particularly by Thora Birch.

Finally putting last year to bed.
Our albums of the year, gigs of the year and review of the year are all on-line now.
Some other sites year-end round-ups are listed below....

John Peel's Festive Fifty
Pitchfork top 20 albums of 2001
Rough Trade shops top 100 albums
the Onion's Best albums of 2001
the Onion's Least Essential albums of 2001
NME top 50 albums
NME top 50 singles

One New Year's Resolution I completely forgot about - get a job which doesn't involve nightshifts, or try everything in my power to get out of them! Yep, the last ten hours have been very tedious, only saved by watching Raging Bull on the telly and making up some CDRs. And of course, having my own free desktop theremin. It rocks.

New content at the weekend, ok folks?

Meanwhile some news from the Yakuza/ Nova Wreck camp. They've started a label called Nova Wreckords (clever huh?) and the first release is a 5 track CDR EP from Yakuza called "Silent Violent." There are 100 copies each in a hand made sleeve and you get it by mailorder by sending £3.50 to:
Yakuza, 2 Agincourt St, Belfast, BT7 1RB.

And there are actually some gigs in London this weekend:-
Tonight (Fri 4th) Part Chimp + Reynolds, Upstairs at the Garage, it's a Silver Rocket night so I imagine it's £4 or £5 8pm-3am.
Tomorrow (Sat 5th) Britt Daniel (Spoon singer solo set) + Wisdom of Harry + Kimberly Rew (Soft Boy guitarist solo set), the Borderline, £8, 8pm.

The wildly eclectic albums of the year list is published below. Cheers to those of you that voted, although I am a bit surprised that so many had Jay-Z on their lists. Variety really is the spice of life - a good selection, including some stuff that I haven't heard yet, so thanks!

1. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
2. Bjork - Vespertine
3. Radiohead - Amnesiac
4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part
5. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
6. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
7. The Strokes - Is This It?
8. Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down the Road
9. Fennesz - Endless Summer
10. Pulp - We Love Life
11. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
12. Daft Punk - Discovery
13. Beta Band - Hot Shots II
14. Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud
15. Simian - Chemistry is what we are
16. Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator)
17. Squarepusher - Go Plastic
18. Missy Elliot - Miss E... So Addictive
19. Tindersticks - Can Our Love...
20. Mercury Rev - All Is Dream
21. Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
22. Fugazi - the Argument
23. Stephen Malkmus
24. Sparklehorse - it's a Wonderful Life
25. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
26. Lift to Experience - the Texas Jerusalem Crossroads
27. Electrelane - Rock it to the Moon
28. Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
29. Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - Bavarian Fruit Bread
30. Ed Harcourt - Here be Monsters

close... Aphex Twin, Bows, Red House Painters, Kristin Hersh, Minotaur Shock, the Dismemberment Plan, Autechre, Smog, Arab Strap.

I've been fiddling with the review of the year I uploaded before Christmas, and I may amend it tomorrow. I promise it's the last list of the season!

Belated happy new year! I must admit that I haven't had internet withdrawal symptoms at all during my twelve days in Northern Ireland, but I'm getting back to normal again. First priority is to get the A-Z and indexes up to date to include the new December content, second priority is to get cracking with the print edition.

A few new things will be added over the next few days - reviews of Belle and Sebastian and the Feline Dream, a generalised albums of the year feature and a composite list of your albums of the year. Ten people have sent in their lists and I've compiled a master list out of those - the winner isn't a surprise, but at least it isn't the White Stripes or the Strokes like every other list around! It might even be finished later on today.

Anyway, I had a fine time in Northern Ireland. I went to see Belle and Sebastian who still play too quietly for my liking. They were in their silly cover version mode, which kind of comes with the season I suppose. 'The Boys are back in town' was an unlikely choice though! I also saw the Feline Dream at last, who were loads better than I expected, really entertaining. Met a few people from the world of the internet at that show, including Nine who I hadn't seen in about five years! She has a new weblog Jinx Removing which I've just spent the afternoon reading.
Didn't do too much after Christmas except generally over indulge myself. We'd hired a car but then Gillian developed a chest infection, and as she didn't feel like drinking, she ended up driving me around everywhere. Naturally this meant we could visit loads more people, and we actually went to four different places on New Year's Eve, which was a good idea at the time, except I had to fly back to London at noon on New Year's Day and go straight to work - I was a bit groggy to say the least. After all these festivities I have seriously considered not drinking during January, but today one of my friends is leaving work so I guess I may be tempted. Naturally I would have hoped to hold out longer than the 2nd of January but these things happen!

in 2001 I
- completely failed to relocate from London to Belfast
- set up slowthrills.com as a domain name, as a precursor for the print edition which will appear early this year.
- didn't travel as much as I wanted, but still got to go to Tunisia in January, Sudan in May and Dublin in October.

in 2002 I
- will publish issue one of Slow Thrills (at least!)
- will write more
- will travel more
- will keep any New Year's Resolutions deliberately vague.

Well, I'm off to Belfast today so don't expect any new content for a while. Things get back to normal on January 2nd, with albums of the year and probably a lot of chinstroking relating to them. Of all the material added to the site over the past three weeks only Billy Mahonie and the Clientele (and maybe some gig reviews) will appear in our print edition which will hopefully be ready late in February. I'm also very sorry that I haven't been bothered to update the A-Z index, or the 'recently added' bits as I've been flat-out fucked for a couple of weeks. Oh well.
I'll be at the Belle and Sebastian/ The Frames show at Queen's on 21st, and at the Feline Dream gig on 23rd. Come and say "hello!"
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Last new content for a while - a kind of review of the year. Enjoy!

Another day, another major hangover. Add to that the general foggy-headed flu I'm suffering from, I'm amazed that there's been any new content at all! I even missed the Stereolab gig the other night cos I felt too ill to go. It's kind of a mix of headache, dry throat and seasonally affected boredom, so it's not much fun (the flu that is, not Stereolab)
Anyway, last night was our department's Xmas bash and we hired the venue in the Macadam building which overlooks the Thames. I made the most of the time-limited free bar (seemed like 8pm til 8.20 then 9 til 9.15 !!) so it turned out pretty good!
A weird thing happened on the way there. Myself and Matt took a wrong turn and went down a street too far, walked down the wrong side street past somewhere that looked like it could be a student halls, judging by the guy in the fancy dress afro outside it. We walked past, realised we were wrong, and doubled back. I walked very close to the guy who was wearing the afro and holding a beercan, only to hear he was talking to the security guard in a comedy Dutch accent. A closer look revealed that it was none other than Chris Morris (Brass Eye, Jam, etc) !! Now that's odd enough in itself, but this is the third time I've seen him in the street in a couple of months - I almost feel like an unintentional stalker!

I'm not too keen to start posting reviews of the year before it's actually over. The albums of the year will more than likely appear in the first week of January, and I haven't yet decided whether or not to collate the votes from emails and the message board yet - depends how broadly spread they are I suppose.
Anyway, today I've posted my Gigs of the Year, simply because I'm only going to go to a couple more so I thought I'd get a list out of the way first. See what you think, if you've got any lists of your own to post use the message board.

Late notice, but if any of you are reading this in Belfast I suggest you get along to the Go Commando Xmas Special at Katy Dalys tonight 9pm - featuring 'special guests' plus Torgas Valley Reds and DJ Chris Caul. It's only about £3 as well.

New content today - a piece called "A Total Lack of Urgency". If you remember our old front page, it said "Features (coming soon) - Why the zine is called Slow Thrills". Well, it's finally here, I've just finished writing it!

A rambling report on yesterday's festivities has been added to the site. I can safely say that this review has no chance of making it to our print issue as I wrote it last night before I fell into bed! I've only got round to coding it now.

PS If any London types are interested, the much talked about Swedish band the Hives are playing for free at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street tomorrow at 8pm. I haven't heard them yet but i might check them out.

What a great idea to promise new content every day of the most sociable month of the year! I've just got back from the Rough Trade party and I'm completely hammered. Still, I got to see five 'bands' - from mid-afternoon til 8.30pm we had the Lollies, Chris T-T, Jacob Golden, Souvaris and Alex and Tracey from Lincoln. I'll try to post a review tomorrow.

Yeah well, I've been feeling rufffffff all day due to my over indulgence last night, but I do hope the staff in the restaurant enjoyed our inpromptu version of 'Dr Baker' by the Beta Band. Yessir!
I must own up and say that I have very little in the way of new content prepared, but I still hope to post new material all the way up to Dec 20, when I will be in Belfast and therefore without my computer. There are a few more reviews, a couple of features and an overview of the year to finish off.
(Naturally I would advise against holding your breath for these!)

NEWS
Founder member of Love, Arthur Lee is due to be freed from prison today. Rolling Stone have the story in full.

Back to normal today with a review of The Soft Boys and Of Arrowe Hill last night. Great gig. Hopefully more content tomorrow, but tonight is our office Xmas party so who knows what will happen.

Sleeeeepyhead! Due to the fact that I've just woken up AND I'm supposed to go along to see the Soft Boys in a couple of hours, there may not be any new content today. I'm writing two new pieces and they're just not ready - sorry!

The Clientele are the latest new addition to the site. An interview with them will be up here later this evening. This will also appear in our first proper issue in the New Year.

An all new interview with Rickie Lee Jones is our latest addition.

Ten new items in a row - even I'm surprised! The material is getting a little thin on the ground now though. Looks like we will have to wheel out some reviews of the year to make it to December 20th (which is when I have a rest!). You can post your own contributions for end of year polls on the discussion site or by email jonathan@slowthrills.com.
Things to do this week..
12th December - penultimate Poptones event at Notting Hill Arts Club, 6pm-1am, £3 before 8pm, £5 after - features The Soft Boys and Of Arrowe Hill (bands on a t 9pm and 10pm)
15th December Rough Trade ROTA sessions Xmas event at Notting Arts Club FREE - Xmas flavoured sets from all sorts including Jacob Golden, Lincoln, The Lollies and Chris T-T. 3.30pm- 8.15pm.
16th December Stereolab, Shepherds Bush Empire, £11.50 in advance.

Well, well, well, guess what today's new content is then?
That's right, it's a review of yesterday's show by Camera Obscura and Simon Breed.

I'm dashing out the door to Camera Obscura's gig at Notting Hill Arts Club, but not before I've uploaded today's new content - an interview with Bob Mould, which we published as part of Weedbus issue 9, mid 1995.

Today's new content is a live review of the White Stripes gig in Kentish Town last night.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! tour dates announced

Brighton Corn Exchange (March 16)
London Forum (18)
London tbc (19)
Birmingham tbc (20)
Dublin Olympia (22)
Belfast Empire (23)
Glasgow Q13 (24)
Bradford St. George Hall (26)
Newcastle tbc (27)
Colchester The Church (April 19)

Just made it! Here's that Jane Siberry interview I promised.

Well, depending on what time I get in from seeing the White Stripes, a new interview with Jane Siberry should be online this evening. Watch this space!

Cheating a bit today - the new content isn't original, it was first included on FallNet. More devastatingly original content tomorrow!
I found this interview by Odran Smith (one of our old gang) tucked away in the archives of the official Fall website. The Frank Chickens may be long gone but Kazuko from the band is still active and recently collaborated with the Fall.
Interview with Kazuko Hohki of the Frank Chickens by Odran Smith, April 2001

Odran Smith: Was it Grant Showbiz's idea to bring yourself and The Fall
together and collaborate?
Kazuko Hohki: Yes!
OS: Have you listened to any of The Fall's back catalogue? If the answer is
yes... what are your favourite songs?
KH: Yes but can't remember the names - a song about an old woman appeals to
me lately.
OS: Did you meet Mark E Smith during the recording of the Unutterable?
KH: No, I've met him several times though.
OS: Are The Fall popular in Japan?
KH: Among special people, yes.
OS: Do you know what 'Cyber Insekt' is about?
KH: No!
OS: What is Kazumi Taguchi [Kazuko's partner in the Frank Chickens] doing
nowadays?
KH: She's been a manageress of a hair salon in Mayfair, and now works for a
Japanese car factory as a translator.
OS: What do you miss most about Japan? And what would you miss most if you
returned to Japan?
KH: I used to miss my parents a lot but, now they are dead, they are
permanently with me. I'd miss British people (my friends), the feeling of
being a foreigner which liberates me, the multi-culturalness of London, my
house, space...
OS: Were you surprised that Ninja Tune decided to remix 'We Are Ninja'
(2000) after all this time?
KH: About time! They are good people.
OS: What did you think of Shonen Knife?
KH: Great to have Japanese women doing things not expected of them. More
please!
OS: Were you shocked at the positive critical opinion about the Unutterable
and, in particular, 'Cyber Insekt'?
KH: I don't follow music media, so am ignorant.
Kazuko's web site

Today's offering is a live review of Bridge and Tunnel, Wolf Colonel and The Robocop Kraus at the Notting Hill Arts Club.

Regarding the updates on the Sonic Boom story, I have been unable to find out anything more. The only web-based stuff I could find was this thread on the I Love Everything forum

BREAKING NEWS!
I've heard from a reliable source that Sonic Boom (of Spectrum/ Spacemen3 fame) has been arrested for drug possession in North Carolina. He was near the end of Spectrum's tour of the US. If the story is true, he is facing either a spell in jail or, if he's lucky, a refusal of his visa. If I can find a website with the story on it I will post it here later.

Newly added today - an interview with Huw from the Pooh Sticks. This dates from 1995 and was published in issue 10 of our former zine Weedbus. I'm not going to adding much old stuff through December but Pooh Sticks stuff on the web is a little bit scarce, so there you go.

In today's instalment:
A live review of Ladytron and Olympic Lifts at the Scala.

I've completely forgotten about the new releases!
Here goes - three new ones and three compilations -

Minotaur Shock Chiff chaffs and willow warblers
folktronica, would you believe! melodic folk tinged electronica a bit like a poppier Boards of Canada

Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia Indian Ink
hotly tipped, supporting Smog on the 11th at Union Chapel

Silver Jews Bright Flight
fourth album from David Berman's Silver Jews - with Lambchop as his backing band

Deus No More Loud Music
a collection of their various singles - unable to confirm if they've called it a day although their official site hasn't been updated since Jan, 2001, so...

John Cale Dream Interpretation: Inside the Dream Syndicate vol 2 and Stainless Gamelan: Inside the Dream Syndicate vol 3
another two installments in the series collecting John Cale's work from the 60's. Vol 2 features material from Cale and Tony Conrad and a track from 1965 featuring Angus Maclise, and the third features him with Sterling Morrison, Angus Maclise and Terry Jennings

As part of a major production drive in the run up to our first issue in the new year, I've decided to add something new to this site every day. This mad idea came about because I was thinking earlier of having a sort of advent calendar on this site just to brighten it up a little, maybe just the odd photo each day, then I thought "why not just add something each day throughout December". It's not as daft as it sounds as we have a bit of a backlog.
We'll see what develops, but meanwhile here's today's contribution - a review of Smog and Kidd Dynamo.

Recommended Christmas related listening: - Captain Beefheart 'There Ain't no Santa Claus on the Evening Stage' (from 'Clear Spot')

Thanks to the person in the tiger suit outside my work, who has just made me aware of Stop Esso Day

Main news is that the World Cup Draw has taken place. I'm already looking forward to it.

Having got carried away with the new material last week, I have been ignoring my website responsiblities since. I am also skint so I've been trying not to think too much about going to gigs all the time - notably missed Jeffrey Lewis + Jacob Golden on the same bill this week, as well as a gig by the Amazing Pilots, though I didn't know about it til too late! However, I am tempted by:
Jetplane Landing headlining at the Monarch on Monday 3rd (£5)
Of Arrowe Hill, psychedelic types on first at Camden Dublin Castle's Club Fandango on Tuesday 4th. (£5)
Website matters yet to be sorted include three new live reviews (Smog, Ladytron, Bridge and Tunnel) and an updated A-Z, but I'm kind of dealing with that asap. New releases will be added here very soon.

NEW STUFF!!
I know it's hard to believe, but I have managed to upload some NEW interviews.
BIlly Mahonie and Calexico are online now. The Billy Mahonie interview will also appear in our debut print issue early next year.

New releases are on the wane as we near the end of the year.
A couple of good new ones from Domino
Jim O'Rourke Insignificance
Papa M Whatever, Mortal
it's also worth mentioning Without Ghosts by Bridge and Tunnel who I saw play an excellent show on Saturday. Interesting to see the Sunday Times call it the "best instrumental album of the year" when there are quite a lot of vocals on it. Whatever, it's good stuff, and the live review will be added in a full update tomorrow.

Sad news that Michael Karoli, the ex-Can guitarist has died. The official confirmation is on Holger Czukay's website and there is also an obituary on Pitchfork.

A couple of gigs for Saturday 17th...
Bridge and Tunnel + Wolf Colonel, ROTA sessions at Notting Hill Arts Club, 4pm-8pm Free
Life Without Buildings, the Spitz (Spitalfields), 8pm £5

Yeah well, went to Ladytron + Olympic Lifts last night, pretty good all round. A 'proper' review' of that and Smog from last weekend will be up very soon. I met A LOT of people and was all talked out by the end of the night. It was completely sold out, and the bar was very crowded and was £3.20 a pint, so that meant I wasn't too drunk ;) Glad the OL slipmats arrived in time, I wonder if they sold any? Playing Sheffield tonight.

One gig in London tonight is the fantastic Jacob Golden who is playing the Barfly acoustic night at the Enterprise in Chalk Farm, admission is only £3.

Don't forget that Ladytron, Olympic Lifts and DJ Andrew Weatherall are playing the Scala, Pentonville Road Kings Cross (beside Thameslink station) tonight. Tickets are still available at £9. The ad in last week's Time Out stated that Mina and Le Hammond Inferno were also on the bill, though I've no confirmation of that.

The White Stripes set for Jo Wylie's new show will be on Channel 4 at 11.35pm tonight. I was supposed to go to the recording but was otherwise engaged, so it'll be interesting to see what I've missed. White Stripes did three songs for tv, and two more for the crowd apparently.

Tuesday night and I haven't even done the new releases yet! Here goes...

The Fall Are you are Missing Winner
I haven't heard it myself and I've been giving recent gigs a wide berth, but
I'm told that this is up there with 'The Unutterable' - still on form
apparently.

bis Return to Central
Now on Artful records, leaning even further towards electronic music.

Chris T-T The 253
12 track album from Chris T-T on snowstorm, dedicated to the bus route from Euston to Aldgate (which goes past my old flat). Great reviews everywhere and has played recently with Elbow and Turin Brakes.

Brian Eno Compact Forest Proposal
5 studies for "010101" San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 2001. 10 active cd players were used in this installation, each playing a specially cut cd featuring a single layer of the total music. The cds had a different number of tracks, some silent, and each player was set to play in random order. The final music is an ever changing combination. This cd
represents possible conditions of the installation piece (obviously it doesn't have the same effect as the installation)

Radiohead I Might be Wrong - Live
Well, I might be wrong but I reckon this 8 track live album was recorded at this gig in Oxford. In which case I'll not buy it as I have the whole gig on minidisc! It's good though. It features tracks from Kid A and Amnesiac plus a new track 'True Love Waits"

I've been a bit all-over-the-place this week, but I'm off to Belfast for the weekend. I'll hopefully be going to the Smog show at the Empire Music Hall on Sunday, but we won't be interviewing Bill Callahan as his publicists have told us he's "too shy". Awww. Speaking of interviews, I hope to have uploaded some of our new material over the next week. I've been keeping these close to my chest but I may as well tell you that the first of these will be
CALEXICO
BILLY MAHONIE
JANE SIBERRY
THE CLIENTELE
RICKIE LEE JONES
with a couple more to be confirmed.
The first print edition will be out around New Year and will be a 'London special', featuring bands mainly from the London area. I would really like to make it free so I'll have to get cracking with some fundraising, especially as I also want to remove all banners and ads across this website.
Meanwhile, I'm off to update the A-Z Index (zzzzzzz)

Doh! I knew I should have tried to go to Beyond Nashville, as it turns out that PJ Harvey was the surprise guest on Saturday night. She appeared on a bill headed by Giant Sand, which also featured Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse, John Parish, Evan Dando, Vic Chesnutt and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner. According to the NME, a stetson-clad Harvey performed X's 'Johnny Hit And Run Pauline' with old touring partners Giant Sand, as well as Sparklehorse classics 'Homecoming Queen' and 'Eyepennies' with Mark Linkous. She also appeared as part of her regular guitarist John Parish's 10-piece band, singing one song and contributing guitar.
The bill was put together by Giant Sand mainman and master of ceremonies Howe Gelb, who received a standing ovation from the 2,000 capacity crowd at the end of the evening.

If you've got tickets for one of the Goldfrapp shows this week in London, you'll probably know that the whole thing has been postponed because Alison Goldfrapp has tonsilitis. The shows are now confirmed to take place on December 3-5, with original tickets valid for the new shows. Tickets for November 5 are now valid for December 3, tickets for November 6 are now valid for December 4 and tickets for November 7 are valid for December 5.

Oh well, I'm off to the wilds of England (Worcestershire to be precise) to help "train people" for a couple of days, so don't expect much activity around here. I will be in Belfast over the weekend, but for anyone in London I have to point out that the wonderful Jacob Golden is playing in Notting Hill Arts Club for free on Saturday afternoon (10th) and then Mogwai are playing Brixton Academy that night. Should anyone still care, the Fall are also playing that night, at Kentish Town Forum.
Don't forget that The Clientele are supporting Ladybug Transistor at the Spitz on 8th November, and Olympic Lifts are supporting Ladytron at the Scala on the 14th. Apparently Mina and Le Hammond Inferno are also on the bill for that.

Finally the Undertones movie is being premiered this week. 'Teenage Kicks - The Undertones', narrated by John Peel, will be shown first this week (November 7) on BBC 1 (at 10.35pm GMT, Northern Ireland region). A longer version of the film (72-minutes - the TV version is 40 minutes long) will then be shown at the Regus London Film Festival on November 16 and 18. The film will also be shown as part of the Foyle Film Festival in The Undertones hometown of Derry on November 17.
'Teenage Kicks', features previously unseen footage of the band from their beginnings in 1975 to their split in 1983. Former frontman Feargal Sharkey, who no longer communicates with any of the other members, makes a rare appearance talking about his time in the band. The movie is still without a main distributor.

Some fancy new releases for 5th November...

Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions Bavarian Fruit Bread
yep, it's her out of Mazzy Star with her debut solo album, ably assisted by Colm O'Coisoig from My Bloody Valentine. Lovely fragile music.

Sophia Da Nachten
Live album from former God Machine front man Robin Proper-Sheppard, recorded at festivals in Europe including four new songs,three reworkings and a cover of John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy'.

The Music You might as well try to fuck me Possible title of the year from the band with the internet unfriendly name - have you ever tried searching for them!? Their second single which carries on from where the debut left off.

The Sonics The Savage Young Sonics
Some of the most primitive recordings you'll ever hear, rougher than their legendary studio stuff which was distorted onto 2-track. Recorded at dances and at home between 1961-64, includes liner notes by Sonics founder/guitarist Larry Parypa

Current 93 Some soft black stars seen over London
7 track live cd (retail £8.99) from this years Bloomsbury Theatre performance - sleeved in a full colour gatefold digipack with 4 new paintings by David Tibet.

I went to see 'The Man Who Wasn't There' yesterday, another great movie by the Coen Brothers. I find it extraordinary that they can be so prolific and yet keep changing styles and settings with such success. This movie isn't a knockabout comedy like 'Raising Arizona' or 'O Brother Where Art Thou?', it's humour is very deadpan and overall it's deeply melancholic.
It reminded me of that Bob Dylan song that goes "People dont live or die/ People just float". I think all the complaints about boredom, slow pace, and lack of vitality are completely off the mark. The Coens obviously were making a point about spiritually drained people who let themselves float through life until they make fatal decisions. Comparisons with Albert Camus 'The Stranger' have been cropping up in a lot of the reviews. Ed Krane, The Barber (Billy Bob Thornton) is performing a perfectly stupid task that never ceases to repeat itself, without gathering the slightest meaning. He even, in his blank way, waxes philosophical, :"I want...I wanna put hair with...dirt, regular house dirt." "Ed, what the heck are ya talkin' about?" "I...Skip it." The movie gets you inside the head of a guy for whom the simplest, everyday stuff is ceasing to make sense.
Billy Bob's understated acting is so deceptively simple. He looks great and I have to say that this is the most gorgeous looking film I've seen in a long time. Cinematographer Roger Deakins, who filmed in color and processed into richly textured, silvery black and white, gives the film a lustrous tone and a often ghostly, dreamlike feel.
Overall, a really striking, memorable movie.