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.

Link to PJ Harvey's review fit and working again, thanks Iain!

Completely forgot about BEYOND NASHVILLE at the Barbican, most of this weekend and various events til Nov 12th. The big one tonight is sold out (Kurt Wagner, Howe Gelb, Kristin Hersh etc) but there are some free events over the weekend. Lincoln and Oh Susanna are on now, Willard Grant Conspiracy are playing for free after 11.30pm, Barbican level 1. Mark Mulcahy is also doing something tomorrow afternoon.

Birthday part 1: fireworks at Alexandra Palace, then some drinking. It's as simple as that!

I've been to see the wonderful Amelie at last. Afterwards as I walked back up Wood Green High Road it seemed like I had been cocooned from the ugly modern world for a couple of hours. It seemed to strike a chord with me, maybe it's something to do with being an only child and having an overactive imagination. I absolutely loved it.

On to musical matters now, and news that the Clientele are playing next week in the Spitz. They're supporting the Ladybug Transistor on Thursday 8th November, and I don't know how much it costs yet!

Loooook, it's the Delgados Studio Diary! Follow the progress as they record their new album in Glasgow.

I've been beavering away on the website, and I've updated the PJ Harvey, Hefner and Les Savy Fav pages with new reviews, and added a recent review of Preston School of Industry.

I'm suffering from the first onset of birthday-planning stress which is seriously distracting me from finishing the live reviews! This year my birthday (Nov 4th) falls when I'm in London so I have to try and mobilise everyone towards some kind of central meeting point. People come and go from London all the time, so you get various friends saying things like "I can't do Saturday, but I'm free next Wednesday" and your celebrations end up being diluted. Things are easier in Belfast, when everyone just meets in Katy Daly's, buys you a pint and you end up staggering home hammered.
So far I've managed to narrow it down to a particular day - Saturday 3rd - which is something at least! Getting everyone in the same place may be more of a challenge, though I think I'll keep it central early on (say, Covent Garden or Soho) though Notting Hill Arts Club in the afternoon is also possible. Who knows where we'll end up, but the odds of getting everyone to the Bonnie Prince Billy gig in Shepherds Bush Empire would be slim to say the least!

On the subject of gigs, Mercury Rev at Shepherds Bush Empire on Nov 1 +2 is completely sold out, as is the first Air show at Brixton Academy on the 3rd. Still tickets for Air on the 4th apparently. And on a smaller scale, Kaito are playing on Nov 2 Upstairs at the Garage, as part of the Silver Rocket club. Should be £4 or £5, late bar.

Not much in the way of new releases this week, just a couple of singles caught my eye.
Jetplane Landing Revolution Rock 7" (yogaboy). JPL feature Andrew ex-Cuckoo in their ranks, this is the follow up to their track on the last Fierce Panda EP.
The Rock of Travolta I love it when a plan comes together Cd single. Currently being lusted after by all sorts of majors, this is a new version of the track from their debut mini-album.   

As for gigs, don't forget Olympic Lifts and Saloon on 30th October at the Toynbee Hall Arts Cafe, 28 Commercial Street London, E1 6LS. It's a Track and Field promotion, so it should be about £5 in. Nearest tubes Aldgate East or Liverpool St.

Some people have written to tell me that they like this front page so it's staying for a while. I'm busy trying to get the live reviews up to date at the moment. Hirameka Hi-Fi has been uploaded and PJ Harvey, Les Savy Fav, PSOI, Hefner, Clone Quartet will be up by Monday. I have a lot of CDs to wade through as well, so don't hold your breath!
I've been all over the place this week. I was in Belfast on 23rd and 24th, and went to Sketchy to see Clone Quartet and Drebin. I was expecting great things and was sorely disappointed. The only other gig I went to this week was Hefner at the unfeasibly large Shepherds Bush Empire. Good as usual, though a bit contrary of them to play hardly anything from their new analogue-snyth dominated album 'Dead Media'. Afraid of a backlash? I arrived a bit late so missed all of the Lucksmiths (great apparently) and I only saw a couple tunes from Appliance, who seemed a bit dull. Anyway, the Lucksmiths are playing again tonight at the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town so I might go along. Oh yeah, and Suicide are playing tomorrow, details below.

On the way back from Belfast I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which really isn't my usual thing, but I was so annoyed by the accusations of occultism in the Belfast Telegraph by various Free Presbyterians and overtly religious managers of toyshops that I thought I would see what the fuss was about. I wonder how many of them have actually read it?

Right, I'm making this the index page for a few days because things have got a bit out of date on the main site, and the new updated index is looking a bit screwy to say the least. What you should know is that I have uploaded a new interview with Rocket From the Crypt. Iain spoke to Paul (aka sax player Apollo 9) on the phone and I reckon it's turned out rather well. New reviews of PJ Harvey, Les Savy Fav, Preston School of Industry and Hirameka Hi-Fi will be ready by the end of the week, as will the newly updated front page and A-Z index. Sorry!

Don't forget that our discussion site is here.