Filed under: news, trouser press | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, andrea corr, anna mackmin, kathy burke, kevin spacey, meryl streep, music, news, niamh cusack, richard raymond, scarlett mackmin, the corrs, the old vic
Singer to star in new production of award-winning Irish play
Unveiling the Old Vic theatre’s upcoming Spring 2009 season, artistic director Kevin Spacey revealed that Andrea Corr is to make her London stage debut next February in a play retelling the events of a month in the life of five impoverished, unmarried sisters living together in 1930s rural Ireland.
‘Dancing At Lughnasa’, written by Omagh-born playwright Brian Friel, premiered in 1990 in Dublin and went on to win Tony and Olivier Awards (among others) for best and best new play. It was later made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, Kathy Burke and Rhys Ifans.
Filed under: news, trouser shorts, video | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, feist, music, news
There’s something fishy going on
Feist is no stranger to working with puppets, as her brilliant musical number on ‘Sesame Street’ attests, but her new video for ‘Honey Honey’ involves far fewer warm and fuzzy beasties. Actually none, just a somewhat grim-looking mechanical anglerfish. Re-teaming with filmmaker Anthony Seck, who executive produced the ‘Mushaboom’ and ‘One Evening’ clips, Feist has come up with a work of perfectly realised darkness and beauty that’s worlds apart from the other Reminder videos.
There’s a profound sense of mythology at work here, probably Norse. In fact, it reminds me of the Emilíana Torrini song ‘Fisherman’s Woman’ in which a young (or in this case old) woman waits for her seafaring man at their lighthouse home on land, not knowing if or when he’ll be back. In the ‘Honey Honey’ video, he gets swallowed by the aforementioned fish and she, fearing the worst, sets out in full diving helmet attire armed with a spear to try and find him. Fittingly for the song there’s no real resolution to the tale. We’re left wondering whether he will ever be returned to her, or if she’ll search until she dies. You might even shed a wee tear.
Filed under: news, trouser press, video | Tags: 2008, abby portner, alan pedder, animal collective, antony and the johnsons, antony hegary, avey tare, drawlings, first nations, kria brekkan, music, news, paw tracks, reverend green, rings
Festive 7″ kicks off new Paw Tracks singles division
Former Múm vocalist Kría Brekkan follows her unsettling solo EP Wildering (review) with an unlikely duet with Antony Hegarty, and I mean unlikely both in the sense that I never imagined Kría’s tiny, beautiful voice mingling with Antony’s soaring vibrato, and in the brilliant twist that it’s a Christmas single. Just one listen is enough to dispel any concerns: this is gorgeous, classic stuff once the brief, abrasive white noise subsides.
The gentle ‘Be Good To Earth This Season’ is actually credited to Reverend Green (aka Animal Collective tour manager Brad Truax) who wrote, recorded and produced the track with Barry London, and, a bit like Björk and Thom Yorke’s ‘Náttúra’ (review), is an inspirational track expressing the importance of environmental awareness.
Filed under: mp3, news, trouser press, video, where's the gigs | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, cher, music, music for one, news, tara jane o'neil
‘Believe’ featured on exclusive European tour EP
Portland-based musician and visual artist Tara Jane O’Neil returns to the UK next month as part of a solo European tour, and she’s bringing lots of goodies to sell. First up is Live & Covered, an exclusive tour EP featuring live tracks and a surprisingly fragile cover of Cher’s massive chart hit ‘Believe’ that has gone down a storm at gigs since she debuted it at a show at Tokyo’s O-Nest back in April.
Just as excitingly, she’s bringing copies of her second book ‘Wings. Strings. Meridians: A Blighted Bestiary’, released in the US last year but previously unavailable in the UK. It’s 96 pages of beautiful homemade illustrations with an accompanying 15-track CD of live tracks, demos and outtakes, and I really, really want one. See some sample pages from the book here.
Filed under: news, trouser press | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, britney spears, music, news
Mistrial declared after jurors fail to reach a verdict
The judge in the Britney Spears hit and run case has dismissed all charges against the singer after a week of hearing arguments from both sides failed to unite the jury as to whether she was guilty of driving without a valid California licence when she hit a parked car in August 2007 and drove off without leaving a note.
The charges were only brought against Spears when video footage of the accident surfaced and could have led to probation or a simple $1000 fine were it not for her desire to avoid a criminal record, which drove the case to court. Britney herself did not appear in court; instead, her father Jamie took the witness stand on her behalf, arguing that his daughter possessed a valid Louisiana licence that proved her not guilty. Even after a fifth round of voting, two of the 12 jurors would not agree that Spears should be acquitted and a deadlock was declared.
Filed under: news, trouser press | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, marissa nadler, music, news
Little Hells named after geological phenomena
In her latest mailing list missive, Marissa Nadler let slip that her hotly anticipated fourth album will be called Little Hells and is due for release in early 2009. As for the origins of the album title, Marissa explained that ‘little hells’ are “geysers of boiling water that hiss and squirt deep inside of the earth until something gives way, causing earthquakes”.
Recorded in Stamford, Connecticut, Little Hells features musicians Myles Baer (aka Black Hole Infinity), Farmer Dave Scher (Rilo Kiley, Beachwood Sparks) and Simone Pace (Blonde Redhead), and Blonde Redhead producer Chris Coady was at the helm. The tracklist has yet to be revealed, but new songs aired on Marissa’s recent tours include ‘Ghosts & Lovers’ and ‘River Of Dirt’. If you happen to be in New York on Friday (alas, I won’t be), you can catch Marissa performing at CMJ’s Kemado Records showcase alongside the likes of Dungen. Kemado are reissuing her debut album Ballads Of Living & Dying on its new vinyl imprint Mexican Summer next month.
Filed under: feature, voice on the verge | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, elena, interview, music
voice on the verge #25: elena
It’s hard to keep up with all the one-named female singer-songwriters who’ve flooded out of Europe in recent years: even within a single alphabetical tier there’s Eva, Elisa, Elíza, and now Elena, a husky-voiced Italian whose specialty lies in melodic, ballsy rock. Whether prowling through the verses of recent single ‘Pink Punk’ with sultry intent or letting rip her pleasing rasp in the title track of her upcoming second album Paint It Gold (out November 24th), Elena is exhilaratingly authentic and emotional. (The album was largely recorded while she was in the hyperhormonal state of pregnancy with her daughter India, and it shows.) If Lucinda Williams ever swapped her bruised country leanings for Amy Ray’s anthemic garage rock aesthetic, it might sound a bit like this. That the buzz surrounding her debut album Glimpse did not translate into commercial success suggests a lack of appetite for music of Elena’s sinuous bent in this country, leaving her out in the cold with the likes of fellow Italian rocker Gianna Nannini and homegrown acts like Rose Kemp. Perhaps Paint It Gold will live up to its title; only time will tell. But seeing as there’s a whole month to go before it’s released, there’s plenty of time to get up to speed with the personality behind the music with our trusty questionnaire…
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