Boxing clever (and why I love Tindersticks)

The Monkey album, 'Journey To The West' came out today and it's really rather good. I'd anticipated having to give it a number of listens before warming to it. I figured it'd be awkward and difficult to get my head round, but it's actually pretty accessible. There's some lovely little Albarn melodies and flourishes throughout and, while there's still far too much to get your head round on the first listen, you'll certainly find yourself going back for more.

The only way you can get this on vinyl is via the special edition by The Vinyl Factory, which is £65 before P+P! As much as I love Damon's music, I'm not shelling out that kind of cash on a one album. It's one of many, similarly insane, projects that have been put before the record-buying public of late. When Radiohead announced the 'In Rainbows' project, back in October of last year, the media made bold claims about the impact it would have on the music industry and how free music would be the way forward. Far from it, it turns out. The actual legacy of the experiment is the 'discbox' effect, with prices ranging from 'a little steep' to 'taking the piss'. Primal Scream have one for 'Beautiful Future', also created by The Vinyl Factory. You get the album, on double vinyl, plus a 12" with one remix on it, a poster and a fancy, but flimsy booklet. All for the knock-down, bargainous price of £50 + P+P. No, seriously! There's one for the new album by The Verve, which features the CD/DVD and double vinyl (featuring two bonus tracks) and a booklet with 'exclusive artwork'. £40 to you. Likewise, Portishead's 'Third' came in a box with double vinyl, an etched 12" of 'Machine Gun' (available elsewhere for £4) and a USB stick with digital files of the album and some videos. Once again, £40. The new Oasis album will also be available in a £50 special edition and there are plenty of others that you can seek out in your own time. As nice an idea as they initially seem, it's starting to feel like the record companies have grabbed at this concept as a way of trying to prop-up flagging sales by fleecing the hardcore fans for as much as they're willing to pay.

Obviously, I'm in the minority in that I buy a lot of records and thus I'm exposed to a lot of these 'special' editions, whereas perhaps the casual fan is less aware of how common these are becoming. However, that doesn't make them any more palatable. The original Radiohead discbox is a delight. Worth £40? Probably not, but it was justifiable as a 'one-off', a treat, a nice item for the collection. But, now they're coming thick and fast, I'm finding myself tempted by many options and therefore choosing to buy none of them. The minute these become an acceptable indulgence, my record-buying budget goes out the window. I know, I know; I'm moaning about something I can just ignore. If I think they're too pricey, I can just not buy them. But they're so pretty!

Two more things before I go. Firstly, I was flicking through the Later - The First 15 Years DVD the other day and came across a truly joyous performance from Al Green. Sure, at times he does Grandad dancing and smiling that much is probably bad for your health (well, your jaw at least) but he just oozes enjoyment and I found myself grinning like an idiot by the end. Watch it yourself right now:

I've spent most of the last few days listening to the music of Nottingham's Tindersticks. Why had nobody told me about them before? I knew they were there but I've no real recollection of hearing much of their stuff previously and I'd never read anything that made me want to investigate, but I've really been missing out. Delicate but ambitious indie music that isn't ashamed to wear its soul and jazz influences in public, their back catalogue is an absolute joy. The first two albums, both, confusingly, called 'Tindersticks' are avilable now in expanded, double CD format and I cannot recommend them highly enough. That said, I'd also recommend all of their other studio albums, so you won't go wrong, whatever you go for.

Here's some YouTube-age to begin the love-in.

This is the track, 'For Those', rendered so beautifully on the Bloomsbury disc that accompanies the reissued version of their second album and in demo form on the debut's bonus disc.

A vintage Jools performance - firstly, 'No More Affairs'

and then 'Talk To Me'.

Finally, this is the much-revered, 'Tiny Tears', accompanied by some random footage, as it average You-Tuber's wont.

Good, aren't they? If you've just fallen in love, thank me later. If you already knew, why didn't you tell me?

In a nutshell, I've bought lots of records.

I've had a thoroughly enjoyable week, piling up CDs wherever there was space remaining. After getting hooked on the Trashcan Sinatras last weekend, the three albums of theirs I didn't own arrived from various different parts of the UK. DVD.co.uk have an insane 4 for £15 offer on that, at the time I ordered, included the deluxe edition of Joy Division's 'Still' amongst the spoils. Add in The Loose Salute, The Blue Nile, Northern Portrait and Ladybug Transistor after hearing them played on Gideon Coe's show and it's been rather a splendid week for new tunes.

The Northern Portrait EP , 'The Fallen Aristocracy' is a little charmer. Four songs of prime British indie jangle a la The Smiths, only made by a trio from Denmark. Even the cover looks like a Smiths record, which earns them a bonus points or two. Sample a track via the mux if you happen to be interested. See the previous post about this EP to order yourself a copy.

I'm now incredibly glad that I pursued The Trashcan Sinatras after 'How Can I Apply?' piqued my interest last week. Its parent album, 'A Happy Pocket' is a total charmer of Teenage Fanclub proportions, while 'I've Seen Everything' - their second album - also has a touch of late Beatles to it. The harmonies are divine and every last second is so delicately constructed I can't help but wonder why I didn't know about it before this week. That said, when you look at it on Amazon, most of the reviewers seem intent upon mentioning Travis, which is enough to make you think again. The aforementioned, 'How Can I Apply?' has also made it to the mux this week, and their first three albums, while not in print, can be tracked down for reasonable prices by trawling all of the different online outlets for second-hand music.

'Momofuku' to you and you and ba-ba-bahh. Bonkers name for an album, even more bonkers approach to distribution in the UK, but nevertheless, the new Elvis Costello is upon us. It's actually really rather good. It was supposed to be double vinyl and download only, but it didn't quite work out like that and a CD copy will be in all good stores from tomorrow. Which is more than can be said about the vinyl edition. That said, it would seem that it has just reached British shores as Amazon briefly had two copies in stock on Friday. HMV are knocking it out cheap too, but to me it seems like the sort of thing you should buy from an indie store. You know, one of the shops that carried on supporting vinyl even when the big stores were trying to persuade us that we didn't need it anymore. The ones who haven't just come flooding back to it because they sense the opportunity for a quick buck. Anyway, despite the fact that the album actually came out in the US on April 22nd didn't seem to bother the distributors in the UK who, despite seemingly having told most shops that the UK release date would essentially be the same, have been unable to supply any copies to any shops until the last couple of days, thus bringing the vinyl release date, at least in the UK, in line with the CD's appearance. Dopey, if you ask me. I ended up buying my vinyl from the US because I was tired of waiting, and it's this kind of balls-up that the industry could do without right now. Some of the more charming if neurotic types over at the Elvis Costello forums have decided it's all a deliberate part of Costello's plan to piss off the UK because some posh people went to Glastonbury the other year. Is it fuck.

Oh, and the Portishead album's actually rather good. There had been mumblings about the record after a sub-standard leak appeared some time ago, but the beefy and brutal sound of the double vinyl has made me sit up and take notice. 'The Rip' may well be one of the finest tunes released this year. Still think that £40 boxset's a big old load of bollocks though.

Duffing is very much the anti-shabba

Attentive readers of the blog will have noticed the new clickable banner at the bottom of the page. It refers to Gideon Coe's quite brilliant radio show on BBC 6Music. I get nothing from doing this, naturally, I just love the show and think you might do so too. I was always rather fond of Mr Coe when he was in the mid-morning slot on the station, a gig he occupied from the station's launch in 2002 until October of last year. At that point, a straight swap was made George Lamb, then-host of the station's late show. I have to confess that I was actually quite pleased, as previously I'd had bugger all chance of hearing Gideon as I was in no position to listen to his daytime show at work. Catching his show when enjoying time off was always a delight, but it always seemed a shame that I couldn't hear more of it.

Gideon has created a wonderful show in the 10pm-1am slot and I cannot think of another radio programme being broadcast anywhere in the world that I rate higher than this one. The music is absolutely spot on and the sense of community is right up there with the work of the late, great Peelie. With regard to the music; as a reader of this blog I'm guessing we have at least vaguely similar tastes in tunes and therefore I should utter some brief words of caution. Unless you can afford to dispense with a tenner a week as a result of hearing something great that you previously didn't know existed, don't tune in. Only last night, I sent $8, via Paypal, to Matinee Recordings for the debut EP by Northern Portrait as a result of hearing one of the tracks on Gid's show.

The listener interaction makes for one of the most pleasant ends to a day I can think of, and it's not just about inviting emails and texts. Far from it. In fact, it's all about the topics he chooses to pursue and the quaint regular features such as 'Paintbox Jury' (famous-ish albums covers, re-done in Paint) and 'Duffing' (listeners' emails in which they have a gentle moan about the world - all ages welcome.) On top of all of this, Gideon is, quite simply, a very witty man. At a time when silly little catchphrases and tales of getting drunk constitute 'radio banter', it's a relief to listen to a show where it's acceptable to:

a) give a shit about music

and

b) have at least a modicum of intelligence

It's rarer than you'd think these days.

Were this blog a school playground, at least one person would now be shouting, 'Why don't you just marry him if you love him that much?' such is my eulogising about the show. But it's all perfectly sincere. It's nice to hear a show that seems designed for you. If it was bollocks then I wouldn't waste your precious time with it, but I genuinely believe you should have a listen. You may well like it muchly.

Gideon's video manifesto for the late show

Last Night's Show

Oh, and don't, whatever you do, play the new Portishead 12", 'Machine Gun', at 33 1/3 rpm. It'll fair make you shit yourself.

Come here, little boy

Just when you thought she couldn't be any more repulsive, Madonna comes back and trounces her previous lows. Have you seen the video for '4 Minutes'? I was unfortunate enough to stumble across it today and found it absolutely terrifying. It appeared to be a promotional video for some kind of Granny-porn fetish site, in which their young male model who looked a bit like Justin Timberlake, only with far too many scarves, was groomed by an old dear whose clothes kept coming off in quite sinister fashion.

Does she honestly believe this is a good idea? Naturally, this is part 2 of the exciting, 'What was she thinking?' series, although for somewhat different reasons. I'm amazed that Madonna is persisting with that little dance she seems to think looks good and, at about the 3:15 mark, makes it seem like she's taken a little tumble. Which, at her age, is not surprising.

Of course, all of this would be of little consequence if the song wasn't based around the sound of two rhinos having a farting competition. Would have made for a more interesting video anyway.

Fair play to Justin Timberlake. As a first project since he pledged to work with 'Help The Aged', it's probably a little bit more high profile than he'd anticipated, but he's had a go. The huge wads of cash probably had nothing to do with it, and he really did want to work on some sub-standard tosh with a singer who hasn't released a decent record in six years.

The Kooks can fuck off too.

***

On a lighter note, and I don't think that phrase has ever previously been used with this band before, you can watch Portishead performing seven songs from their forthcoming new album, 'Third', in a special broadcast on Current TV. UK viewers can see it on Sky Channel 193 at various times over the next few days or you can simply nip over to the Current website and watch the video there. Here it is in a small, blog-friendly box.