Whatever did happen to DRUGSTORE anyway? Day 172- the missing 7 years and the long journey to the cave...  “Every time I meet someone I'm burdened with the same questions: 'what happened to Drugstore? Where was I in the past 7 years? Why did I stop the band?' As much as I love telling a story, refreshments provided, it's such a long and traumatic tale, that I find it a bleeding pain having to go through every single detail over and over again. It's a good story and one that needs to be told. So, for the record, and hopefully for the very last time, I will tell you what really went down, and why it took me 7 long years to pop my head out of the cave. Bring on the violins, the bottles of wine, let's get some clouds going, read on” said Isabel Monteiro

30th DEC '09: TIM HART R.I.P – Tim Hart, founder member and influential part of STEELEYE SPAN has died so reports Associated Press today. Seems Cancer, once more, was the cause. Tim 61, was a big part of the 60’s/70’s folk rock scene. 
        “Tim Hart died on Dec. 24 in La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands, where the Briton had lived since retiring from the music scene”, so say A.P.
      Hart was a star of the 1960s folk scene in Britain, first gaining fame in a musical partnership with singer Maddy Prior in 1966. The duo recorded two albums of "Folk Songs of Olde England," with the versatile Hart backing their singing on guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, banjo and violin. In 1971, Hart and Prior joined with Ashley Hutchings, who had left the Fairport Convention to form a new band. The new 'folk supergroup' project, at Hart's suggestion, was named Steeleye Span after a character in a Lincolnshire folk song, Horkstow Grange. Hart left Steeleye Span in 1983, but appeared at a charity concert with the group in 1995. Last year, he appeared with Prior at a concert in London. He most recently devoted his time to his (published) photography. There’s a Guardian obituary that will tell you a lot more... 

R.I.P ROWLAND S. HOWARD: (1959-2009) guitarist Boys Next Door, Birthday Party, Crime & The City Solution, These Immortal Souls. According to reports, Rowland  S Howard has last his battle with cancer
          Australian website  Mess And Noise reports:  Australia’s music scene has lost a true icon with the reported passing of Rowland S Howard today (December 30). While no official statement has been made by management, close friends of the guitarist have confirmed reports that he lost his ongoing battle with liver cancer at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital this morning. More from Mess And Noise

JIMMY "THE REV" SULLIVAN R.I.P – US metal band Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer Jimmy Sullivan, known to most as The Rev, has died. Aged just 28, the word is natural causes. The band made this statement last night: “It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world's best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy's family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time. Jimmy you are forever in our hearts. We love you”. - www.avengedsevenfold.com
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ESBEN AND THE WITCH kick off a lot of healthy gig action including an “Organ Recommended” show that you’ll find on the rather excellent Londongigs.net website... The recommended gig is on Thursday 5th Jan at Madam JoJo’s in London’s Soho where there share a bill with equally good GRASSCUT  )£4 with a flyer, £5 on the door). “Melting glowing mystery and soothing ethereal otherness and bats and lashes and things from the rather beautiful Esben And The Witch. Brighton's Grasscut add their refreshingly delightful breezy glitch and twitch and English tunes that glow in a uniquely gentle way, glow like the Downs in the sun, just listen to recent single High Down and then...” is what we say over on London Gigs. 
      Meanwhile you can download yourself a free mini album from Esben And The Witch here and find out why and who and what the fuss is all about... Check their My Space for loads more dates and things 

www.myspace.com/esbenandthewitch
www.myspace.com/grasscutmusic
www.londongigs.net

Tonight is the last KLINKER CLUB for ages, the legendary club takes a break for 2010 while the treasure that is Hugh Metcalf does other musical things. Tonight you can catch F**K OFF BATMAN, Hugh Metcalfe & Jim Le Baigue perform Resurrection film (with Hugh’s ex-boat in it), ZALI KRISHNA, SQUEEZEBOX JUKEBOX, John Wall & Alex Rogers, The Klinker Club happens at a number of venues, tonight, December 29th, the venue is Tottenham Chances, 399 High Road, London N17. 'The Klinker Club, anything could happen! Performance, punk rock, poetry, art flying at your mind. Last of the legendary Klinker Club events for a long time, taking a break in 2010 - and F*** Off Batman, all their songs have but one line in them (well sometimes), the same one line whatever the tune...' Something good always happens at Klinker...
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TRANSATLANTIC, the neo prog “supergroup”, who really are nothing to do with the real idea of prog if you ask us, polite would be the polite way to put it, the band who feature Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) Pete Trewavas (Marillion) Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) and Neal Morse (Ex Spocks Beard) will play two UK shows at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London on Fri 21 May and Manchester Academy on Sat 22 May.  Hey, we're just bringing you the news, don't mean we consider this stuff exciting.... Extra Life making a new album, now that's exciting prog news!

FAC251 reopens... That’s right, the HACIENDA appears to be rising again - factorymanchester.com.
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The Velvet Underground's JOHN CALE will perform his classic solo album Paris 1919 in its entirety at the Southbank Centre in London next year. Cale is best known for his his role in The Velvet Underground, and for producing records by the likes of The Stooges, Modern Lovers and Nico. His solo career has been chequered to say the least; there's no doubting that Paris 1919, released in 1973, is his crowning achievement. It's one of Cale's most accessible works in terms of its melodies and lavish production, and one of his most strange and cryptic in terms of its lyrics. It was recorded at Sunwest Studios in Los Angeles by producer Chris Thomas, and featured a backing band comprised mainly of members of US folk-rock band Little Feat. To this day Paris 1919 enjoys a fervent cult following - stoked by Reprise's 2006 reissue – and its songs have been covered by the likes of Final Fantasy, Yo La Tengo and Manic Street Preachers. The live performance of Paris 1919 will take place on Friday 5 March, 2010, at the Royal Festival Hall, part of the Southbank Centre; Cale will be backed by The Heritage Orchestra. The RFH has become a regular host to performances of classic albums, most recently Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. For more information and tickets, head over to www.southbankcentre.co.uk

26th DEC '09: THE LAZE, one of the bands of 2009, have made a rather good twelve minute instrumental piece available as a free download. Arpegasus was written, recorded and released in one evening, Find it here. 

25th DEC '09: VIC CHESNUTT R.I.P. - The Constellation Records website has posted an announcement that Vic Chesnutt died this afternoon in Athens, Georgia. "In the few short years that we knew him personally, Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about. Our grief is inexpressible and Vic's absence unfathomable," the announcement said.

That's John Lee Bird's 2006 Vic Chesnut portrait there...

24th DEC '09: VIC CHESNUTT is reported to be in a coma tonight. Rumours and stories have been spreading around the web for the last few hours. His label has confirmed that “Vic is in the middle of a serious medical situation, he is in a coma, and his family and friends are with him,” said Constellation Records’ Don Wilkie in a statement. “We have no comment right now on the specifics other than that his doctors are continuing to assess his condition. We will issue a full statement at an appropriate time. In the interim, we request that everybody respect Vic’s privacy and that of his family.” Friend and collaborator Kristen Hersh has said (via Twitter) that Chesnutt’s coma is the result of a suicide attempt. Our thoughts are with Vic, his friends and family. 
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23rd DEC '09: HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a Christmas present from us in the form of a link to a free download of those Kraut rock legends CAN doing a version of Silent Night in that 70's Germanic clean cut way only Can could, no snow going to block their autobahn...download it from here. Happy Christmas to you all... 

Winter Chill? Burn Your Art? Frozen paint and flying crows, snow everywhere.... Vicious out there, hell on the streets, people rushing to consume, blood in the white and AIDS WOLF vs WEASEL WALTER... Frightening Twitter of the day: @AIDSWolf - Weasel Walter is now mixing our Throbbing Gristle cover, it's our first ever cover and is ten mins long!!. 

TO THE BONES join ZICO CHAIN on a UK tour this coming January, the Bolton noise-makers are busy recording new material right now, they kick back in to action at the start of the year with somedates, no news on when the new material will be out. The dates are as follows... Jan 20th King Tuta Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow,  21st The Plug, Sheffield, 22nd Roadmender, Northampton, 23rd Rock City, Nottingham, 24th Moho Live, Manchester, 26th Thekla, Bristol, 27th Islington Bar Academy, 28th Drift In The City, Portsmouth, 29th The Flapper, Birmingham... 

21st DEC '09: Happy Solstice, 5.47pm is the exact time, leaves and shoots and we’re not stopping for Christmas, new package from Cuneiform just landed. We haven’t finished with the year yet... What’s with all these end of year best albums things at the start of December? We'll do it next week, there's been some good album in December... Time to throw paint....

Talking of albums of the year, two years ago around here it was Efterklang...

EFTERKLANG ANNOUNCE 2010 SHOWS... Efterklang release their third album, 'Magic Chairs', on 22 Feb via 4AD. While you wait for it, you can download and listen to the album's opening track here.   The band have also just announced some UK and Ireland tour dates: 20 Apr: Brighton, Concorde 2, 21 Apr: London, Shepherds Bush Empire, 22 Apr: Oxford, O2 Academy, 23 Apr: Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire, 24 Apr: Belfast, Black Box, 25 Apr: Dublin, Whelan's, 27 Apr: Bristol, Metropolis...

17th DEC '09:  FIGHT LIKE APES have a free live album, recorded at the Eurosonic festival in Holland early this year, and good it is, of course it is! This is Fight Like Apes, go get it from www.fightlikeapesmusic.com

4AD RELEASE FREE COMPILATION In celebration of what has been a rather good year for the label, 4AD have released a free download compilation featuring twelve of the best tracks added to their catalogue in 2009, including tracks from The Big Pink, Camera Obscura, Future Of The Left and Deerhunter. Go and get it here should you feel the need http://4ad.com/features/2009/

SSS RELEASE CHRISTMAS SONG - Thrash metallers SSS have gone to the trouble of recording a Christmas song, which they're giving away for free as a little festive gift. Explaining the decision to write the song, frontman Foxy said: "We are following in the footsteps of some of the greatest Christmas songs ever written from yesteryear - Slade, Wizzard, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Shakin Stevens, FEAR and Band Aid - that have all placed themselves firmly in our hearts and on cheap Christmas compilation CDs at this time of year. Now here's our meagre festive rattler that will be played for years to come at family discos and shake the false teeth from all our nans' heads". Download the track here

GALLOWS CANCEL GIGS - Gallows have been forced to cancel a number of gigs over the next few days, as guitarist Steph Carter has fallen ill. This includes tonight's show in Watford, although that particular gig has already been rescheduled for 8 Feb. In a statement, the band said: "Steph is still unwell and has been told that he will not be able to play any more shows this year and so this has forced us to pull out of these shows. We're really sorry to disappoint all our fans who were looking forward to seeing us in 2009 but we promise we'll come back better and stronger than ever in 2010 and we hope you'll join us next year". The affected shows are as follows: 17 Dec: Watford, Coliseum , 18 Dec: London, Village Underground, 22 Dec: Newcastle, Legends

BEACH HOUSE release their third album on 25 Jan, via Bella Union, and will be over in the UK and Ireland for a headline tour in February. They will also support Grizzly Bear on their upcoming UK tour in March. Here are the headline dates: 10 Feb: Glasgow, King Tut's, 11 Feb: Manchester, Islington Mill, 12 Feb: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club, 13 Feb: Dublin, Whelans, 14 Feb: Belfast, Speakeasy, 16 Feb: Cardiff, Arts Centre, 17 Feb: London, Bush Hall

DANGER MOUSE AND SHINS MAN COLLABORATION NEWS - The debut album from the previously reported new project from Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer has received a release date. Broken Bells' eponymous LP will be released on 8 Mar, with the first track from it, 'The High Road', available as a free download from Monday at www.brokenbells.com.
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Now this is genuinely exciting, Brooklyn-based five-piece EXTRA LIFE, one of the finest bands around right now, have announced the release of their second album, "Made Flesh," on LOAF Recordings in March 2010. Extra Life is the primary musical vehicle for Charlie Looker, singer, guitarist and composer, who has become one of the most intense and respected voices in the New York experimental underground. Looker was a core member of legendary brutal chamber ensemble Zs and has also worked with diverse artists such as Dirty Projectors, Glenn Branca, William Parker and the S.E.M. Ensemble
         The band are currently offering a free MP3 download of their song, "Black Hoodie," taken from a limited edition split 12" with Nat Baldwin, which will be re-recorded/re-imagined for Made Flesh. here it is now, you really need to explore this band. The live review from last time they were here in London can be found on this page... drummers with music scores on stands, that's what we like to see! 

There a previously unreleased ELLIOTT SMITH song called Cecilia Amanda that’s free to download via Pitchfork, here’s the link

ANARCHISTWOOD join BAD FOR LAZARUS and APPLICANTS tonight, Wednesday 16th December 2009 @ THE MONARCH 40-42 Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London, NW1 Doors are at 7.45pm entry is FREE and The ‘Wood are on at 8.45 so we’re told... So you can make Sickboy’s showfirst, catch The Wood, and head right over to the Garage for the mighty TED MAUL... Or you can stay in and watch the London snow fall. BAD FOR LAZARUS is led by Rich Fownes, former guitarist for The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Nine Inch Nails. His rowdy new five-piece throw garage rock shapes in the manner of The Stooges. APPLICANTS “were formed by Fidel Villeneuve - who released an album for the infamous Digital Hardcore label as a prodigal teenager - along with partner in crime Paul Blades and the inimitable Jeffrey James. Applicants make a chaotic melee of gleeful indie-pop made up of distorted drum samples, trashy guitars and shards of wry lyrical humour” so it says here, don’t ask us. . ANARCHISTWOOD are agents of Thee Great Cosmic Joker and damn proud of it. Closely affiliated to the Ancient Order of Maelific Jesters, the Black and Blue Crayola Sect and Mother Iggy and her Sacred Hole.

And here’s a quick note “to remind you that BAD FOR LAZARUS kick off their UK tour tonight playing at The Monarch in Camden for FREE, onstage at 10pm so bring your mates and come and have a gander. They then buzz off on a few other regional dates as below. This bunch of hairy Brighton degenerates and their violent mish-mash of surf punk, grunge and doo wop are steadily garnering a reputation as one of the country#s most insane live bands (seriously, they’re incredible!!). Bassist Jimmy Diego has been known to accidentally break his own nose with his guitar so well, you get the point”. The dates are Dec 16th London The Monarch, Dec 17th Stoke Alsager Arms, Dec 19th Newcastle The End Bar, Dec 19th Brighton Concorde 2 w/Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Dec 21st Cardiff 10 Feet Tall, Dec 30th London Old Blue Last Last week they released their debut single “Old Rats on a New Ship”, backed with B-side “Kemptown Animals”. The band have kindly posted it for free download from http://badforlazarus.bandcamp.com/ - you caught the Organ review here a couple of weeks ago of course... Ted Maul or Bad For tonight? Or everything snowed off? What will it be..
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BRITISH SEA POWER Announce London Show, they will play the Scala in London on February 9th 2010, news if you want it... 

VIV ALBERTINE joins up with experimental band Braindead Collective and Zoe Street Howe to record Viv's Christmas song, 'When it Was Nice'. A melodic, poignant remembering of childhood innocence and trust, with a skewed and intense musical interpretation by BDC. Viv met BDC when they were both appearing on The Late Late Breakfast Show on Resonance Radio 104.4 FM a month ago. They hit it off immediately, played their first show together at a friend's birthday party a week later, never having played together before. The improvisation worked and in that spirit they decided to record one of Viv's songs as a Christmas track available as a free download and here it is....

Vermont's very own 'neo-psychedilc freak folkers' MV + EE have added two dates* to their FEBRUARY 2010 tour. Here’s the dates in full...   Thu 4 IPSWICH, The Blue Room*, Fri 5 CAMBRIDGE, CB2 Cafe*, Sun 7 LONDON, Borderline, Mon 8 BRIGHTON, Freebutt, Tue 9 LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club, Wed 10 NEWCASTLE, Star & Shadow, Thu 11 STIRLING, Tolbooth, Fri 12 MANCHESTER, Islington Mill, Sat 13 COVENTRY, The Tin Angel, Sun 14 BRISTOL, Cube Cinema. Support comes from The Doozer. MV + EE's latest album for Ecstatic Peace, 'Barn Nova' is out now

NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB ANNOUNCE UK TOUR.. New Young Pony Club are back, and they can prove it. Not only will they release a new album on 1 Mar, but they will head out on a tour of the UK from 15 Mar. If you need immediate proof of their continued existence, I'd suggest you get yourself over to www.newyoungponyclub.com and download their new track, 'Lost A Girl'. It's free. The dates: 15 Mar: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms, 16 Mar: Birmingham, Academy 2, 17 Mar: Bristol, The Thekla, 18 Mar: Oxford, Academy 2, 20 Mar: Manchester, Moho Live, 21 Mar: Leeds, Cockpit 2, 22 Mar: Nottingham, Stealth, 23 Mar: Glasgow, King Tuts, 25 Mar: Newcastle, Academy 2, 26 Mar: Liverpool, Korova, 27 Mar: Cambridge, Junction 2

POLAR BEAR FREE DOWNLOAD AND LIVE DATES... Polar Bear will release their fourth album, 'Peepers', on 1 Mar via The Leaf Label. You can get yourself a free download of the album's title track right now http://soundcloud.com/benwl/polar-bear-peepers. The band will be previewing more music from the album when they head out on tour in the early months of 2010. Here are the dates: 29 Jan: Alton, Alton College, 30 Jan: Colchester, Lakeside Theatre, 19 Feb: Brighton, The Old Market, 20 Feb: Canterbury, The Farmhouse, 24 Feb: Cambridge, The Junction, 2 Mar: London, The Garage, 26 Mar: Windsor, The Firestation
 

SIGUR ROS SOLO.... Parlophone Records have sent a note to tell us they are “proud to announce the release of ‘Go’, an exhilarating, joyful and fearless album from Jón Thor Birgisson, known to the world as Jónsi, the lead singer of Sigur Rós”. Said debut solo album is to be released on March 22nd, 2010
      “The choice to make an album of solo recordings came together as a solution to a backlog of songs Jónsi had written that didn’t seem to fit within the Sigur Rós context. The first collection of this material saw its release earlier this year in the form of a record called ‘Riceboy Sleeps’, an instrumental album made with his partner, Alex Somers. ‘Go’, however, is a different beast entirely.  Ecstatic, dramatic and alive, it features Jónsi’s signature vocals throughout, with the majority of the songs sung in English”. 
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DIVINE EVE are one their way over for some UK dates, These Texan metalheads play a mean stew of extreme death n doom, been doing it since 1992 and after a bag load of releases on respected metal labels like Relapse, Nuclear Blast and suvj they recently signed to Ibex Moon and are touring in support of their new album "Vengeful And Obstinate" (out on Jan 18th). “Expect a spiteful mixture somewhere near Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Sodom, Venom, Bathory and such.... The dates: 13th Jan - Nottingham, Seven, 14th Jan - Manchester, Satan's Hollow, 15th Jan - Leeds, Rios, 16th Jan - London, The Elektrowerkz. www.myspace.com/divineeve2008

11th DEC '09: Editorial? Music? Not this morning, more crows be picking at mindflesh... 

THE RETURN OF BURZUM  - Got a massive press release here that reads “It’s been 11 long years and now the world will see the return of Burzum. The new album is entitled Belus, after the name of the ancient European solar deity of light and innocence. Belus is not a religious album or an anti-religious album, nor is it a political one, but an attempt to explore the myths about Belus and unveil the oldest roots of our cultural heritage. The album deals with the death of Belus, his sombre journey through the realm of death and his magnificent return. In essence the album and the story of Belus is meant to be an entertaining story about something that once upon a time played a major role in the forming and shaping of Europe”. There’s a whole book for a press release but hey, how much more black could any of it be? Belus will be released worldwide on Byelobog Productions on the 8th March 2010.

JAGA JAZZIST ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW - Jaga Jazzist will be back in London on 3 Mar, when they will play the Islington Academy. You can get yourself a free download of 'One-Armed Bandit', the first single from the band's new album of the same name, which will be out via Ninja Tune on 25 Jan, here: www.ninjatune.net/jagajazzist – those of you who listen to your radios on a Sunday night will know all this already, we’ve been playing that rather fine single, go grab it, you’ll like it... 
            Asked about the inspiration for the new album, Jaga mainman Lars Horntveth recently told CMU: "I was listening a lot to Steve Reich, Fela Kuti and MGMT before writing the music. One evening I wrote the title track 'One-Armed Bandit', which was very inspired by Fela Kuti. I suddenly started to make all these arpeggios and fanfares that reminded me of the sound of a slot machine. After that we tried to do more of that and added heavy brass on many tracks and crazy arpeggios as a 'theme' for the album". 

10th DEC '09: F**KED UP KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS... F**ked Up have released their much talked about cover of 'Do They Know It's Christmas', profits from which will be donated to three Canadian charities working to bring to end an epidemic of missing and murdered aboriginal women in the country. As well as the members of F**ked Up, Yo La Tengo, GZA, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Bob Mould, Tegan & Sara, Andrew WK, TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone, comedian David Cross and Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew also appear on the track. F**ked Up frontman Damian Abraham said in a statement: "It's hard to find a balance between the song being a fun, playful holiday classic and the reason we're putting it out, to benefit organisations dealing with a deadly, serious issue".

Sweden’s OPETH, easily one of the heavy end of musical life’s most revered and respected bands (well by some anyway), will commemorate their twentieth anniversary in Spring 2010 with six exclusive shows that will take place across the globe, including one in London at the Royal Albert Hall on April 5th. .

9th DEC '09: News news news, you come here expecting news when there are sugarcats and crows and winged machines to be considred, have some Liars and be thankful... have a nice day now, a gloriously creative day. Make a piece of art, send it in... Thumpermonkey Lives tonight... 

LIARS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM WITH FREE DOWNLOAD - Liars will release their fifth album, 'Sisterworld', on 10 Mar next year. To tide you over until then, the band have made a track from the album available to download for free. Of the track, entitled 'Scissor', frontman Angus Andrew says: "The song is built from some strange vocal interactions I was having with myself. It's a description of someone realising their own inadequacies". Download the track here: www.thesisterworld.com
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BLOOD RED SHOES ANNOUNCE UK TOUR - Blood Red Shoes, aka Steven Ansell and Laura Mary-Carter, have announced that they will release their second album in February, with touring starting soon afterwards. The duo have just made the first taste of that new album, a track called 'Colours Fade', available to download via their website for free. “It's seven minutes of pure rock excellence, and requires your immediate attention” apparently, don't ask us, we haven't heard it yet, we'll go hit the link in a moment and find out. Get it here: www.bloodredshoes.co.uk.
            Those Blood Red tour dates: 2 Mar: Birmingham, Academy 3, 3 Mar: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms, 4 Mar: Bristol, Thekla, 5 Mar: Brighton, Komedia, 6 Mar: Leeds, Cockpit, 8 Mar: Edinburgh, Electric Circus, 9 Mar: Dundee, Doghouse, 10 Mar: Glasgow, King Tuts, 11 Mar: Newcastle, Academy 2, 12 Mar: Manchester, Academy 3, 13 Mar: London, Garage 

ORGAN RECOMMENDS -  THUMPERMONKEY LIVES!, MAYORS OF MIYAZAKI, ONE OF US CANNOT BE WRONG, this coming Wednesday 9th Dec @ The Miller, London Bridge - Full on forward looking blend of challenging prog rock from Thumpermonkey, Awkward Math-prog challenge from The Mayors and One Of  Us on the bill as well, no of us can be wrong here. Thumpermonkey have just released one of the albums of the year and this could well be a rather special gig.... More “ORGAN RECOMMENDS” via www.londongigs.net

GENTLE GIANT’s Ray Shulman and Kerry Minnear are going to be on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on BBC Radio 6 at 5.30pm GMT on 13th Dec. For those of you in far flung places and unfamiliar with Radio Six, you’ll find it all on line here at www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/freakzone

RAINCOAT’S GINA BIRCH goes to Copenhagen: Filmmaker and Raincoat Gina Birch has joined artists Hayley Newman and Kaffe Matthews to form The Gluts and create a performance project called Cafe Carbon, which they are taking to Copenhagen during the climate conference next week. For their visit, The Gluts have co-written a menu of songs about food and climate which they will perform on the streets and in the cafes and bars of Copenhagen. The Gluts will also be making an extraordinary documentary/art film ofthis trip for future audiences. The first stage of this project is taking place between the 11th and the 14th of December kicking off on a specially commissioned Campaign Against Climate Change train travelling between Brussels and Copenhagen. The Gluts will be providing a special buffet service for the international activists, campaigners, enlightened citizens – from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and Holland travelling on the train. Wearing strangely fashionable up-cycled and hand-made carbon coloured costumes, The Gluts will ask audience members to select songs from a menu of starters, mains and deserts. Stone Cold Soup is a strongly recommended starter or perhaps you would like to opt for Cheap Cheap Chicken? As a main course, The Gluts will be serving an account of Martha Stewart visiting Mrs Beeton and a song about food that has travelled around the world more times than your grandmother. Or perhaps you would prefer a Grand Buffet of the most extravagant feast on earth? The Glut’s message? To ask questions that make us think about what and how much we consume. Do we really need to keep on spending without any awareness of the impact of our actions on other people and our world? T-shirts from global sweatshops, plastic wrapping around everything, food that has been transported half-way around the globe?

Gina Birch - Founder member of The Raincoats, sometime member of Red Krayola and filmmaker has been working on a multitude of projects this year, including a film of her icons screened at the National Portrait Gallery, a collaboration with viola composer Sarah Sarhandi to make three short dance videos, and many live shows with both of her bands. She is directing a film about the Raincoats and has made a series of 70s feminist art works on video. She is working towards an exhibition of video and 2 dimensional work.

Hayley Newman - Hayley Newman has been making performance work since 1994. She recently worked with artist/writer Andrea Mason on the project Bankspeak – a series of Capitalists Anonymous meetings on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the City of London. The project drew on the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program and was an attempt to help ex-bankers survive the current economic crisis and save the planet!

Kaffe Matthews - Since 1996 Kaffe Matthews has been making new electro-acoustic music through a system of self designed software matrices through which she pulls and pushes different sounds live. The variety of sounds, things and places she has worked with have ranged from kite strings on an uninhabited Scottish Island, flight data from NASA scientists, melting ice in Quebec, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, vibrating wires in the West Australian outback. She has just returned from a month of working with sharks and conservation scientists on the Galapagos Islands.

Links: www.cafecarbon.net / www.ginabirch.net / www.kaffematthews.net / www.hayleynewman.com

XIU XIU UK TOUR ANNOUNCED - The new Xiu Xiu record, Dear God I Hate Myself, will be released a week early in the UK on February 15th. The band will be heading over to tour that week: February 20 - Dublin, Ireland @ Whelans, 21 - Glasgow, UK @ NiceNSleazy, 22 - Edinburgh, UK @ Electric Circus, 23 - Manchester, UK @ Islington Mill, 24 - Sheffield, UK @ The Harley, 25 - Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff Arts institute, 26 - London, UK @ The Luminaire, 27 - Brighton, UK @ Freebutt 28 - Coventry, UK @ Taylor John's House

5th DEC '09: NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION have just been confirmed to support Porcupine Tree on the UK leg of their European tour. Taking over from Kscope label mates Engineers, who had to pull out of the dates due to unforeseen personal circumstances, the dates kick off this Sunday and are as follows: Dec 06 - WOLVERHAMPTON, Civic Hall, Dec 08 - NEWCASTLE,  Academy, Dec 10 - MANCHESTER, Â Academy, Dec 11-  GLASGOW,  ABC...
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MuTATE BRITAIN opens for a second run underneath the Westway in Ladbrook Grove, West London this Friday 4th December... More street art, scrap sculpture, counter culture and more fire-breathing metal beasts. Photos and words from the last night's preview can be found here, lots of new work to see...

MAYORS OF MIYAZAKI tonight, a benefit for ROLL CALL...  Mayors Of Miyazaki play a last minute show tonight at The Birds Nest in Deptford. The news is posted on the Cutthroat66 blogsite
        “Get yourself down or up or where ever your coming from to the Birds Nest in Deptford, 32 Deptford Church Street, SE4. Billed as “a benefit for roll call whose van and equipment recently got stolen”, on top of that you got 2 great bands on the bill, (the other I couldn’t find) well worth checking out! Promoted by Rotten luck and Another free entry event! get there early as always, you wouldn’t wanna miss nothing ay!” Good to see those Mayors back in action  – More from www.myspace.com/rottengigs

R.I.P ERIC WOOLFSON...  The co-writer of ten Alan Parsons Project albums, Eric Woolfson, has died, aged 64.  Woolfson's first break in the music business came at the age of 18 when he was signed up as a session musician by the legendary producer Andrew Loog Oldham. Through that opportunity he began songwriting, penning music for the likes of Marianne Faithfull, Peter Noone and Marmalade. He teamed up with Alan Parsons to form the aforementioned Project in 1975, and co-wrote numerous songs with Parsons, including hits 'Eye In The Sky' and 'Don't Answer Me'. He also played keyboards on the group's albums. As well as this, spent some time as an artist manager in the seventies, managing Carl Douglas, he of 'Kung Fu Fighting' fame. In more recent years Woolfson turned his hand to musical theatre, writing a musical about Sigmund Freud, which premiered in 1990.  Confirming his death, a statement was posted on the songwriter's Facebook page earlier this week, which read: "We are very sad to have to tell you that Eric Woolfson passed away in the early hours of this morning after a long and brave battle with cancer. He very much enjoyed seeing all your kind comments and posts on this Facebook page and his family wanted to thank you for your appreciation of his work (CMU).

NEW PAVEMENT MATERIAL... Up until now, the official line on the Pavement reunion has been that they're getting back together for one tour and then that'll be that. But now the band's guitarist, Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg says that, if things go well, fans could expect some new songs, as well. Speaking to Australian newspaper, The Age, he said: "If it's enjoyable for us, I think it is inevitable that we'll make some more music. I hope so because I think it will be fun. If I was a fan of the band, I'd want to hear some new music, but we're just going to see how it goes. We're taking it one step at a time". (CMU)

YEASAYER have announced UK and Ireland tour tour dates to coincide with the release of their second album, 'Oddblood', on 8 Feb. They also release the first single from said albub, 'Ambling Alp', on 5 Jan. Tour dates: 16 Feb: Birmingham, Academy 2, 17 Feb: Glasgow, King Tuts, 19 Feb: Dublin, Academy, 20 Feb: Belfast, Speakeasy, 21 Feb: Manchester, Academy 3, 22 Feb: Leeds, The Faversham, 23 Feb: London, Heaven, 25 Feb: Bristol, Thekla, 26 Feb: Brighton, Audio

HENRY ROLLINS ANNOUNCES SPOKEN WORD TOUR... Punk legend Henry Rollins will be heading to the UK and Ireland in January to stand on stage and rant at length. Hooray! Tour dates: 12 Jan: Dublin, Vicar Street, 13 Jan: Glasgow, Academy, 14 Jan: Leicester, De Montfort Hall, 15 Jan: London, Royal Festival hall, 16 Jan: Manchester, Lowry, 18 Jan: Norwich, UEA, 19 Jan: Bournemouth, Opera House, 20 Jan: Liverpool, Academy, 21 Jan: Newcastle, Academy, 22 Jan: Leeds, Academy, 23 Jan: Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall

SHANE MACGOWAN TO GROW VEG ON TV? Okay, that headline might not be strictly accurate, because from the sounds of it Shane MacGowan does very little of the actual work in 'Victoria And Shane Grow Their Own', a new show fronted by him and his partner Victoria Mary Clark, which will begin airing on Irish TV channel RTÉ One next week. According to the blurb for the show, Victoria hopes that she and Shane can grow enough vegetables to make a living and throw a party for their friends. Shane leaves her to do most of the work, but does offer gardening tips half remembered from his childhood farming experience, in between preparing for a Pogues tour and various other distractions. If that sounds up your street (and why the hell wouldn't it?) and you have the ability to tune in to RTÉ One, do so on 8 Dec at 10.15pm.(CMU)
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THE VICTORIAN ENGLISH GENTLEMENS CLUB release a 3rd single 'Bored In Belgium', from their album 'Love On An Oil Rig', on 25th January 2010 and round off 2009 with one last show tomorrow night: 3rd December - London, Lexington 

WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH and ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS are touring Europe together, the UK dates look like this: 15th Feb London, Camden, Purple Turtle, 16th Feb Reading, Face Bar, 17th Feb Southampton Joiners, 18th Margate Westcoast Bar... More of a toe in to Southern England then... 

FEAR FACTORY announce UK dates - Burton C Bell, Dino Cazares, Bryon Stroud + Gene Hoglan return in February with the brand new album "Mechanize", a full-fisted blast of passion and innovation that sounds like the missing link between?s 1995?s caustic, groundbreaking Demanufacture and 1998’s more texturally nuanced Obsolete. Catch the band as they play four relatively intimate shows in London, Manchester, Wolverhampton and Glasgow. Tickets on sale Friday 4th December at 10am. The dates: Feb 16 - Manchester Academy 2, 17th - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall, 18th -  Glasgow Garage, 19th - London Camden Electric Ballroom 

VIV ALBERTINE is going into the studio with Braindead Collective and Capitol K to record a Christmas song, 'When It Was Nice',  available as a free download from vivalbertine.com next week Meanwhile, sorry to announce that her gig this Friday 4th December at Inn On The Green, Portobello Road has been cancelled. She plays next Thursday 10th December at Bloomsbury, Horse Hospital.

PAVEMENT ADD MORE UK AND IRELAND DATES - So, it turns out that Pavement are universally loved by everyone in the entire world (are we the only one not really that excited about it?). Due to the massive demand for tickets, the band have now added a fourth show to their run at Brixton Academy in London, plus shows in Glasgow and Dublin. Tour dates (newly added shows marked with an *): 4 May: Dublin, Tripod*, 5 May: Glasgow, Barrowlands *, 10 May: London, Brixton Academy*, 11 May: London, Brixton Academy [sold out], 12 May: London, Brixton Academy [sold out], 13 May: London, Brixton Academy [sold out], 15 May: All Tomorrow's Parties [sold out]
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ENO TO GUEST DIRECT BRIGHTON FESTIVAL 2010 - The Brighton Festival yesterday announced Brian Eno would be its Guest Artistic Director for 2010. Brighton's big May festival introduced the idea of a Guest Artistic Director earlier this year, with artist Anish Kapor filling the role for its 2009 season. The guest curator works with the Brighton Festival team to put together a three week programme of theatre, music, dance, art and literary debate. 
         Eno's programme will include a "constantly evolving sound and image-scape" called '77 Million Paintings', the world premiere of the first full-length work by choreographer Hofesh Shechter and his Brighton-based dance company, and a site-specific installation piece inspired by 'The Cherry Orchard' by another Brighton group, dreamthinkspeak.
         Eno will also speak during the festival, and there will be a live performance of his seminal 1983 album 'Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks' by contemporary ensemble Icebreaker, staged alongside footage of the Apollo moon landing. 
         Confirming his role as Guest Artistic Director for Brighton Festival 2010, Eno told CMU sister publication, ThreeWeeks: "I am delighted to be part of a festival which has consistently placed itself at the cutting edge of the creative arts in Britain. I hope to be able to show some recent work that has not yet been seen in this country, and also to develop new works especially for the festival. I would like this festival to provoke and entertain - and hopefully to start some social conversations which will persist long after it has finished. Aside from all that I look forward to a few weeks living in one of Britain's most pleasant cities!"
           Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of the Brighton Festival, added: "World-class direction and a captivating programme of events are what cement Brighton Festival at the heart of the UK and international arts scene. Brian Eno is bringing some extra ordinary events to the 2010 Festival, along with the infectious energy and intellectual range of a polymath. Eno in many ways embodies the ideal festival curator with interests and experiences so eclectic and extensive. I'm really looking forward to what promises to be an exceptional Festival".
       The 2010 Brighton Festival will run from 1-23 May – www.brightonfestival.org (CMU)

1st DEC '09: BAD FOR LAZARUS, the band from Brighton with a fast growing rather glowing reputation for kicking up live storms, have a debut single out right now, you can grab a slice of the down in the gutter punk rock ‘n roll swampy blues action for free, go read the review and hit all the download links via this week’s Organ singles page. Meanwhile they have some dates that look like this: Dec 12th Southampton Lennons, Dec 16th London The Monarch, Dec 17th Stoke Alsager Arms, Dec 18th Newcastle The End Bar, Dec 19th Brighton Concorde 2 w/Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Dec 21st Cardiff 10 Feet Tall, Dec 30th London Old Blue Last. More via www.myspace.com/badforlazarus. Wonder what touring with Bad for Lazarus is like? Well it's a little bit like this, actually... 

30th NOV '09: PENNY RIMBAUD joins HUGH METCALFE, he of The (rather experimental, always rewarding) Klinker club, as the ever colourful Mr Metcalfe presents AROUSER ALLEY, his ever-surprising 8mm films accompanied by himself on voice /violin /guitar/noise'n'nuisance, Penny Rimbaud (of Crass) on whatever can be found to hit, and Tony Barber on guitar and abstract futures. The dates are: Dec 1st at The Klinker, Tottenham Chances, 399 High Road, London, N17, Dec 3rd at The Cross Kings, 126 York Way, London, N1, Dec 4th at The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Road, New Cross, London SE15, Dec 11th at The Tottenham Chances (as above)
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THROATS announce debut album. UK hardcore outfit Throats will release their eponymous debut album via Holy Roar on 1 Feb. To celebrate, they'll play a free album launch show at The Old Blue Last in London on 30 Jan with Hang The Bastard, Brutality Will Prevail and Betty Pariso, before heading out on a full European tour. You can get a taste of the action on their MySpace page - www.myspace.com/throatsofgold

ROLO TOMASSI have announced that they will play five low-key shows in January. The gigs will be the first opportunity to hear some of the material from their second album, which they've just recorded with Diplo. Tour dates: 17 Jan: Nottingham, The Chameleon, 18 Jan: Manchester, The Deaf Institute, 19 Jan: Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy, 20 Jan: Birmingham, The Flapper, 27 Jan: London, Barfly

27th NOV '09: FUTURE OF THE LEFT will be heading out on a UK tour tomorrow, with support from Tubelord. Here are the dates: 28 Nov: Norwich, Arts Centre, 29 Nov: Oxford, Bullingdon, 30 Nov: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms, 1 Dec: Birmingham, Academy 3, 3 Dec: London, Garage, 4 Dec: Brighton, Freebutt, 5 Dec: Bristol, Thekla

MuTATE IS COMING BACK, seems public demand deems the return of a genuine slice of exciting West London counter culture. MuTATE is “a festival of underground art providing a welcoming, inclusive and visually astounding experience for all ages in an atmospheric 12,000 square foot setting just off Portobello Road. Walk amongst giant sculptures, installations and unique artwork...”  If you missed out in October, then the whole thing is back again with new pieces, new sculpture, new art... You’ll find plenty of Organ coverage over here.. 

Full dates and opening times: MuTate runs from December 4th to December 20th on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays  Friday 12-10pm / Sat 12-10pm (no entry after 9pm), Sun 12-9pm (no entry after 8pm). £1 before 6pm / £3 there after www.mutatebritain.wordpress.com
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25th NOV '09: SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE, aka Ben Chasny, will play his first UK shows for two years next month, following the release of tenth album, 'Luminous Night', earlier this year, and the soundtrack to Joseph Matteson's book, 'Empty The Sun', this month. Performing with Chasny will be drummer Alex Neilson and (for the London show only) Magik Markers guitarist Elisa Ambrogio. Tour dates: 30 Nov: Brighton, Freebutt, 1 Dec: Penryn, Miss Peapods, 2 Dec: Birmingham, Town Hall (Capsule's 10th Birthday), 3 Dec: Manchester, Islington Mill, 4 Dec: London, Bush Hall, 11 Dec: Ten Years Of ATP

COMANECHI ALBUM LAUNCH - Comanechi release their debut album, 'Crime Of Love', on 7 Dec via Merok, and to celebrate the duo have lined up a special launch party on 11 Dec at El Paso on Old Street in east London.  Comanechi will, of course, headline the show, and also playing live will be Scottish punks Divorce and Japanese rockers Bo Ningen. Keeping the party going until the small hours will be DJ sets from The Big Pink, A Grave With No Name, Feeding Time, Skill Wizard, This Is Music and Merok.

THE YUMMY FUR TO REFORM.. Cult Scottish band The Yummy Fur have announced that they will perform their first proper shows for eleven years on a short tour to promote the release of a best of compilation on What's Your Rupture? and the fifteenth anniversary of their former label Guided Missile, in January. Formed in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist John McKeown (now frontman of The 1990s), The Yummy Fur featured a revolving line-up, which latterly included Franz Ferdinand's Paul Thompson and Alex Kapranos (then known as Alex Huntley). They split in 1999, with McKeown and Kapranos producing one final single, 'This Is Andrew Sinclair', which McKeown described as "the history of The Yummy Fur in four minutes". The band - featuring McKeown on guitar and vocals, Thompson on drums and guitarist Brian McDougall - will play two UK shows in Glasgow and London on 7 and 9 Jan, before heading across the Atlantic to play their first ever US shows.

AND BIS... Well so says Manda from her very own planet over there...  “The guys and I have decided to open our little indie hearts to the Spanish sun in May 2010 for Primavera Festival! This one-off Bis reunion in Barcelona (unless we get offered wads of cash to do more of course!) will be alongside Pavement, Pixies, the Fall, and many other great bands. Bis played Primavera quite a few years ago, and it’s where I got to meet the lovely Jarvis Cocker! Come join us for a few days if you can!”
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GIRLS ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES... Girls have just announced a European tour in February and March, which will hit the UK and Ireland for the following dates: 22 Feb: Brighton, Audio, 25 Feb: Southampton, Talking Heads, 26 Feb: Lancaster, Library, 27 Feb: Glasgow, Stereo, 1 Mar: Dublin, Whelans, 2 Mar: Manchester, Deaf Institute, 3 Mar: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds - www.myspace.com/girls

22nd NOV '09: 100sqft opens tonight over at Boleyn’s Boys Club, London N16. More details further down this very page, 100 pieces of art forming a  hundred foot square wall, all one square foot square. The show runs for a week, or go have a look at the excellent website, the big grid is rather satisfyingly positive use of the web, click on an image that catches your eye and.. Explore it all via www.100sqft.co.uk

21st NOV '09: DUFUS, the band, or the man Seth, a band who once figured on one of those Organ Radio compilation CDs back there way back in Organ history, are over from New York and on a European tour right now. UK dates look like this: Nov 23 - Hope & Anchor, Brighton, Nov 24 - The Adelphi - Hull, Nov 25 - Goo Nite @ Bardens Boudoir - London, Nov 26 - Frog and Fiddle - Cheltenham, Nov 27 - The Globe Inn, Exeter. 
          "Like an encyclopaedia of so-called outsider music condensed into a Downtown pagan mystery meeting... it's the 21st -century equivalent of the Fugs at their finest." - Richard Gehr, Village Voice  - www.myspace.com/dufus
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ART FOR KUNST is “an exciting new project, offering highly collectable and functional art pieces from established UK street and graffiti artists and the freshest new talent - Aida, Dora, Mac1, Juice 126, Dscreet, Faith47, Plimsoul and Zoot - all at affordable prices! We will be bringing you a range of fabulous art throughout the year from both our website and at various pop- up market stalls across London”. The Art For Kunst team launch on Thursday 26th November at The Old Truman Brewery. For more information on the artists, opening times, dates or directions at Trumans, along with other projects, visit the web site - www.artforkunst.com

Old school thrash metallers OVERKILL have announced a couple of UK tour dates for 2010. Bobby Blitz, in his usual understated way, said: "UK-UK-UK...here we come England... time to smash the Brits to Bits! Let’s make it another one to remember as the Brit-Pit swings into to full action. So strap yourselves in, as we pound the ground, how far can you take it? Go Ironbound!"  UK tour dates are as follows: February 24 Wolverhampton – Wulfrun, February 25 London - Academy Islington. The new Overkill album 'Ironbound' will be released on February 1st, 2010 - www.myspace.com/overkill

BAND OF SKULLS ANNOUNCE UK TOUR... Band Of Skulls, fresh from supporting Spiritualized on their recent UK tour, have announced headline dates of their own for next February. To coincide with the shows, the band will release a new single, 'I Know What I Am', on 8 Feb via You Are Here. Tour dates: 4 Feb: Leeds, A Nation of Shopkeepers, 5 Feb: Liverpool, EVOL, 6 Feb: Glasgow, King Tuts, 8 Feb: Newcastle, Cluny, 9 Feb: Manchester, Ruby Lounge, 10 Feb: London, 100 Club, 11 Feb: Bristol, Thekla, 13 Feb: Southampton, Talking Heads, 14 Feb: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds

FIRST AID KIT ANNOUNCE ALBUM AND TOUR.. Swedish teenagers Klara and Johanna Söderberg, aka First Aid Kit, have announced that they will release their debut album, 'The Big Black And The Blue', in the UK on 25 Jan via Wichita. The album was originally released this year via The Knife's Rabid Records label. They'll also be touring over here. The dates: 19 Feb: Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete's, 20 Feb: Glasgow, King Tuts, 22 Feb: Birmingham, Rainbow, 23 Feb: Manchester, Deaf Institute
24 Feb: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club, 25 Feb: Stockton, The Georgian Theatre, 26 Feb: Hull, Adelphi, 27 Feb: Nottingham, Bodega, 1 Mar: Sheffield, Bungalows and Bears, 2 Mar: Norwich, Arts Centre, 3 Mar: Oxford, The Jericho Tavern, 4 Mar: London, Union Chapel, 6 Mar: Bristol, Louisiana, 7 Mar: Southampton, Hamptons, 8 Mar: Brighton, Hope

STUPID NEWS STORY OF THE DAY: MARIAH DENIED KITTENS... Mariah Carey's rider demands are somewhat legendary, but it seems she doesn't always get what she wants. According to reports, the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush in London refused to break their 'no pets' rule and provide her with 20 white kittens to help her turn on their Christmas lights. The full list of demands included: 20 white kittens, 100 white doves to be released during the event, 80 security guards, pink confetti in the shape of butterflies, a Rolls-Royce to drive her through the shopping centre, and a pink carpet leading to the podium.
A source told the Daily Mail: "We did manage to source the doves that we were going to release into the sky, but the kittens proved terribly difficult. In the end, it was made clear that due to health and safety, there was no way we could have the animals at Westfield. We do not allow pets into Westfield - that rule would apply for everyone. We have worked extremely hard to make sure that Mariah's event is fantastic. Even the model of car had to be changed six times to one that her people liked".  (CMU) 

Couldn't  resist passing that one on.... or this one....

MORRISSEY EJECTS HAMBURGER FROM GIG... Morrissey had a fan thrown out of a gig in Hamburg on Tuesday after the audience member shouted an insult at him. The incident happened after Morrissey suggested that people from Hamburg should be called 'Hamburgists', rather than 'Hamburgers', so to break their association with the popular meat delivery system the fiercely vegetarian singer hates so much. Weak joke supplied, he then played 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris'. After finishing the song, Moz announced to the audience: "So, somebody shouted and told me to go and f**k myself". He then identified the man who had thrown the insult and asked him to explain himself. The man managed to say: "You made a joke about us and I..." before the singer launched into a tirade against him and had him thrown out by security. As he was pulled out of the venue, the man shouted: "But I love you..." to which Morrissey responded: "Well, love me outside".
     And because they love you and us, the CMU people have managed to piece the whole thing together via the medium of YouTube. Happy Friday: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3    (CMU)
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BECK RESPONDS TO FIERY FURANCES RADIOHEAD DIG - Well, this is becoming a saga now. Recently we didn't report that The Fiery Furnaces had called Radiohead "bogus" for writing a song about the death of the last surviving World War I veteran Harry Patch, because the whole thing was a bit dull. But, hey, now Beck's become involved, so let's fill you in.
       In a slightly dissing post on the Furnaces' MySpace blog, the band's Matt Friedberger pretended that he thought the song was about experimental composer Harry Partch. His sister and bandmate Eleanor carried on the insults, saying in a subsequent blog: "Like most creative musicians, Matt Friedberger is not a fan of Radiohead and their various chartbusters", before adding: "Matt would have much preferred to insult Beck but he is too afraid of Scientologists".
       Now Beck has apparently invited the Friedbergers' comments by posting a song entitled 'Harry Partch' on his website. According to the website, the rack is "a tribute to the composer and his desire to make the body and music unified into what he termed 'Corporeality'. The song employs Partch's 43 tone scale, which expands conventional tonality into a broader variation of frequencies and resonances".(CMU)
           Now here at Organ I don’t think anyone gives a flying flip what the Fiery Whatevers think about anything much, and Beck hasn’t been up to anything of serious interest for a good few years now, but we are rather curious about his interest in the work of the rather wonderful Harry Partch, that sounds hopeful..   Apparently we can have listen now at www.beck.com. Meanwhile explore Harry Partch over at www.harrypartch.com. OK, I'll give you that those Fiery Furnaces have their moments, they ain’t bees knees enough to really be shouting their mouth off though are they?
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18th NOV '09: THOUSANDS opens tonight, full details on our ART page.. 

ON HISTORIES OF ROSENBERG are on about to embark on what will be a rather mathy tour with Denmark's rather fine MARVIN’S REVOLT (both regulars on the Organ Other rock show on Resonance FM of course) .... Tout dates start 29th Nov The Hope, Brighton, them 30th Nov The Old Blue Last, London and then off around the country until 17th Dec The Chantry Social Club Canterbury. Full dates and sounds via  www.myspace.com/ofrosenberg or www.myspace.com/marvinsrevolt Further Marvin's Revolt Organ coverage here on this page

ENGINEERS CANCEL... A statement from Engineers: “It is with much disappointment that we have to announce the cancellation of all of our forthcoming gigs. Due to some unavoidable personal circumstances we cannot perform the gigs with our full line up and we feel that this would not do justice to our recorded work. Many apologies to those who have bought tickets and arranged transport and accommodation, and also to everyone involved in the organisation of them. We really appreciate your support and hope that you can obtain adequate refunds. There are no plans to reschedule the gigs at the present time. Sorry for any inconvenience” Engineers
 The band's new single, 'What Pushed Us Together', will still be released as planned via Kscope next Monday, November 23.

TRASH TALK are supporting F*CKED UP at their Barfly London show this coming Wednesday 25th November. The Sacramento quartet, are scheduled to kick off their UK November/December tour with Gallows the following day. The band has just finished recording their new album with Joby Ford from The Bronx. This will be released next year on Hassle records. Tour finishes up with a Headline show in London, at the Buffalo Bar on December 15th – full dates and such at www.myspace.com/trashtalkfu

RESONANCE FM WINS...  Last night Resonance104.4fm was the winner of the Radio Academy’s Nations and Regions Award for London. “The judges felt that Resonance stood out for listeners as a unique station in a saturated and largely homogenous radio market. It is a station that simply couldn’t be found anywhere else, and that strongly identifies with – and super-serves – London’s creative and artistic community. Its output defies format and conveys a distinct attitude that ‘art should never care.’ The minimal budget of grants and donations from people passionate about the station, coupled with very creative use of diverse radio techniques, sets challenges for both listeners and the radio industry alike. The judges considered this should be warmly welcome and supported with this award. Congratulations!” – www.resonancefm.com

17th NOV '09: SLAYER POSTPONE EUROPEAN TOUR... Last week Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo said he was pretty sure that the band's European tour this month would still go ahead as planned, despite back surgery undergone by frontman Tom Araya, which had already forced the band to cancel the Canadian leg of their current tour. Turns out he was wrong. The dates have, however, been rescheduled for next spring. A spokesman for the band told reporters: "It is with immense disappointment that Slayer must postpone its UK and European tour. Tom Araya has been under the care of a specialist for a back injury, and while he has already made substantial improvement, he is continuing on with doctor-prescribed treatment". The band's manager, Rick Sales added: "Right now our main concern must be the full and permanent recovery of Tom, so we have decided to clear the calendar and give him the extra time he needs to concentrate solely on good health".
        Here are the new dates for the UK leg of the tour: 7 Mar:Manchester, Academy, 8 Mar: London, Forum, 9 Mar: London, Forum, 2 Apr: Nottingham, Rock City, 3 Apr: Glasgow, Barrowlands, 4 Apr: Leeds, Academy, 5 Apr: Birmingham, Academy
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LOSLOHBROS @ GRAFFIK...  The last date of the Loslohbros English art tour (if we've got the facts right) hits the Graffik gallery in Ladbrook Grove on Thursday 19th November and runs until 22nd November... There’s an opening night party with live DJ, live painting from the artists involved and who knows what and where and who... More art, busy week... More details and such from Graffiklondon.co.uk or Loslohbros.com

How good is this LAMBCHOP version of the Sisters Of Mercy classic This Corrosion

VIV ALBERTINE, formerly guitarist and main songwriter with The Slits, returns to music after a break of 25 years. Viv, who performed last year at The Slits first reunion dates has opted for a solo career.  She has an EP ready for release in the new year to be followed early summertime by an album. The new material is said to be "beautifully uncomplicated, stripped down and raw".
       "I love Viv Albertine's CD, it's everything you'd want to hear from The Slits 2009." Thurston Moore
             Catch her live doing the following things on the following days (mostly) around London...  Tue 17th Nov: Solo songs at The George Tavern, Whitechapel, then Fri 20th Nov: Singing solo songs on Resonance 104.4 fm 12.00 midday til 1.00. Late Late Breakfast Show with Tracey Mobley, then solo songs at The Stags Head, Orsman Road, London N1, for launch of Eel Zine. Wed 25th Nov: gig with her band Limerence at The Bedford in Balham, Fri 27th Nov: - Mon 30th Mini French tour - Toulon, Lyon, Dijon, Paris. And then December Tue 1st gig with her band 'Limerence'' at The Macbeth Hoxton.  Fri 4th gig with band at Inn On The Green, Portobello Road, West London – More info from www.vivalbertine.com or www.myspace.com/albertine

14th NOV '09:  THE THOUSANDS is an art exhibition and book launch that kicks off at the Village Underground, London EC2, on November 18th. Dealing with the ever evolving ever exciting world of street art, graffiti and such. The whole thing is put together by RJ from VANDALOG. The show features a new mural by Burning Candy as well as pieces from Swoon, Banksy, Faile and many more... Go visit our art pages for the full story
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100sqft: The idea is simple, the idea is great. Gather together one hundred pieces of art, each exactly one foot square. All to be exhibited together in a ten by ten grid at a gallery in North London (as well as on a website). The art was gathered together at the start of November, you'll find it all up there on the 100sqft website now. It works, well it does on line, we haven’t seen the show in the flesh yet. That website is so satisfying, those little squares demand you keep going ans clicking on another one and enlarging it. Go have a look and explore the squares here. Bet you can’t resist hitting on a square can you? The show opens on November 22nd and runs for a week over at Boleyn’s Boys Club, 68 Boleyn Road, London N16. Opening night party/view is on the 22nd with a bar and music from the Our Friends Electric team.  Explore it all via www.100sqft.co.uk
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The PERSISTENCE TOUR features the following bands (different line ups at different venues) IGNITE, BIOHAZARD, AGNOSTIC FRONT, WALLS OF JERICHO, DEATH BY STEREO, EVERGREEN TERRACE, NO TURNING BACK, ALL FOR NOTHING, FOLSOM, COPYKILL, GAMA BOMB, NAPALM DEATH, BORN FROM PAIN, CRUSHING CASPARS... More tour details here. 

BAD APPLES - Much to the dismay of locals, the Earth Centre in Conisbrough, which has been left derelict for the last five years, is now in danger of being sold for re-development. The site, which went into administration in 2004, was repossessed by Doncaster council who were recently asked to grant access to a local community group so that they might gather the fruit, vegetables and herbs growing in abundance on the 400 acre site. Access was repeatedly refused on the grounds that the fruit in the forest gardens was 'rotten' and 'infected with wasps'. Instead, the council have given the green light to the likes of war games company Cerbus Airsoft, the local police, for dog training, and the Ministry Of Defence for f***-knows-what. Not easily discouraged, a group of likely scrumpers defied the law of the day and gathered the apples from the orchards to distro to people in the local community. A small act of defiance but in the SchNEWS office we think its scrumptious! Plans are being made to reclaim the site for an eco-village or a community education centre for sustainable living before it is sold off to commercial scumbags and lost forever.  For background info go here... (SchNews)
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SAINT VITUS date moves...   Please note that the Saint Vitus and Orange Goblin show that was scheduled to take place at The Scala, London on Wednesday 10th February 2010, has now been changed. The show will now take place at The Islington Academy, London, on Wednesday 3rd February 2010. Saint Vitus will headline on what will be their first and ONLY show in the UK for 20 years. Orange Goblin will appear as special guests for this show only. Opening at Islington Academy will be Centurions Ghost who are supporting Saint Vitus on the rest of the tour
       Twenty years! We shall have to dig the Organ review out, it was at the Walthamstow Royal Standard, lots of people were rather excited at the time, a then rather new band called Cathedral opened for them and gave them a good run for their money, the riffs went on for days, the Bevis Frond was down the front headbanging... 

12th NOV '09: BABYSHAMBLES are to play a one off last minute gig tonight at Dirty South over there in South London, support comes from The Thirst... 

CAVE AND ELLIS TO RELEASE NEW SOUNDTRACK... The two Bad Seeds (assuming Nick Cave is allowed to be referred to as a Bad Seed) have, in the past, rather successfully, worked on various film, theatre and book soundtracks, and they have a new one for us.  The latest is the score for John Hillcoat's film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', and will be release on 4th Jan. www.nickcaveandwarrenellis.com or www.theroad-movie.com

THE ENEMY have been added to the line up for this year's Edinburgh Hogmanay street party which sees in the New Year Scotland style. They join a bill that already includes Madness, Noisettes, Frightened Rabbit and The Fratellis' frontman John Lawler's sideproject Codeine Velvet Club. Info at www.edinburghshogmanay.com.

COKE TO SPONSOR TUBE BUSKING PITCHES IN RUN UP TO CHRISTMAS - Coca-Cola will sponsor the busking pitches on the London Underground network during December, and the fizzy pop brand hopes to persuade at least some buskers to sing one of their promotional jingles while they are on the stand. Yeah, good luck with that. They might have more success in persuading busking types to sing a few Christmas songs, which seems to be at the heart of the promotion.  A spokesman for the drinks firm told reporters: "We are in discussions with London Underground about incentivising buskers and giving them the option to include festive songs in their repertoire during their set, which could include the 'Holidays Are Coming' tune from the Coca-Cola Christmas ad. This would be completely at their discretion and is not something that is at all mandatory".
          Perhaps they could expand the busking pitches to comedy and persuade Mark Thomas to come and do his "why Coke are evil" routine. (CMU)
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MOGWAI FILM TRAILER ONLINE - A trailer has been put online for 'Burning', the Mogwai film which follows the Scottish band while they play in Brooklyn. The film will be screened as part of the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival on 13 Nov. The trailer is here

JIMMY PAGE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF CHEMICALLY INDEPENDENT... Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page will kick off the celebrations of 10 years of The Outside Edge Theatre Company at the Riverside Studios on Wednesday 25th November.
           ‘Thriving at the Edge’ is a special fundraising performance from the UK’s only professional theatre company to work with people affected by drug and alcohol addiction. Jimmy Page, a patron of the company, will talk about his journey to become part of The Outside Edge and there will be a specially edited version of the company’s hugely successful production ‘My Name is Bill’ which charts the journey of the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Bill Wilson. There will also be special guest performances from the world of music and theatre.
                  Phil Fox, founder and Artistic director, said: “I was once asked why I had started the company and I remember spluttering out a few superficial platitudes, before I got honest. My addiction nearly killed me, but theatre saved my life and I started Outside Edge in the hope that others might be saved too. The 25th November is ten years from when it all began for me and I want to bring a new edge to Outside Edge. To show more people what ‘chemically independent’ theatre is all about and to bring awareness to the plight of so many addicts within our society.”
        The performance will take place at the Riverside Studios, Crisp Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 on Wednesday 25th November 2009 at 7.30pm. Doors open 7pm. For more information or to book tickets please contact the Riverside Studios Box Office on 020 8237 1111 or go to www.riversidestudios.co.uk. More from www.outsidedgetheatre.com
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MAGMA special on Resonance FM tonight... This evening’s edition of Rockfort is a specially extended one and a half hour show dedicated entirely to Christian Vander, the drummer-leader of the legendary prog group Magma. During (the French language) interview, Vander holds forth on a miscellany of subjects including his passion for John Coltrane, the Kobaian language, and meeting his wife Stella – hear it via 104.4FM in London, or worldwide via www.resonancefm.com

EVILE start search for new bass player...  The UK thrashers begin the search for a new bassist, following the tragic passing of Mike Alexander. There’s also a full UK tour scheduled for January. 
          The band have announced that the search for a new bassist for the band is underway. The thrash band are looking for an experienced, friendly and skilled professional bassist/musician. Applicants must be able to commit 100% to the band, be expected to be available for extensive global (with valid passport) touring from January 2010 onwards, be a resident of the U.K. (preferably close to Huddersfield, but not necessary) and have touring / performing experience. To apply please, email the following to bass at evile.co.uk - Full Name, Age, Location, a quality link to a video of you playing the bass (YouTube.com etc), a few pictures of yourself (on and off stage), details of playing and gigging experiences, detail why you want to join the band. All applications must be received by December 8, 2009.
        Evile have announced a full UK tour in January. Dates are: January 14 – Cardiff Barfly, 15 – Wrexham Central Station, 16 – York Fibbers, 17 – Glasgow Cathouse, 18 – Newcastle University, 20 – Manchester Academy III, 21 – Nottingham Rock City 21, 22 – Leeds Rio’s, 23 – Bristol Thekla, 24 – London Camden Underworld, 25 – Wolverhampton Civic Hall Bar

THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX kick off some UK tour action this month... Chris Kosnik (Bass & Vocals) Bob Pantella (Drums, also from Monster Magnet) and Finn Ryan (Guitar & vocals) are back again combining the best of their “Rush-like riff mazes and the dueling Kosnik/Ryan vocal harmonies creating the wall of sound and precision TAB fans have come to expect”. For more than 10 years the band has climbed up and out from the basements of NJ to play nearly 1000 live shows in over 20 countries, and this year will be no different with over 40 shows already booked for this fall alone in Europe and North America. “This is no 3 chord bullshit...this is the Bitchwax”.  The band arrive in the UK this month for the following dates: 25. Nov UK Nottingham The Old Angel, 26. Nov UK Cardiff Barfly, 27. Nov UK London Underworld, 28. Nov UK Brighton Engine Room

THREE TRAPPED TIGERS, The rather tasty experimental trio from London, head back out onto the road this month with a bunch of UK dates. The band, currently in mainland European territory, will be playing their final UK dates of the year including two dates with 65Daysofstatic (whose London date at Heaven is already sold out).
        The dates: Tuesday 17th @ Manchester, Academy 2 w/ 65DOS, Wednesday 18th @ London, Heaven w/ 65DOS, TTT will also play three headline shows at the below venues this month: Wednesday 25th @ Nice ‘n Sleazy, Glasgow (support from Golden Grrrls and Ultimate Thrush), Thursday 26th @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (support from Volcano the Bear) Friday 27th @ The Lexington, London (support from the rather excellent Grasscut) Also, check out TTT’s new video for 6 here
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A F*CKED UP CHRISTMAS... F*cked Up are using the money they got when they won this year's Polaris Prize (the Canadian Mercury) to re-record 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' in aid of various charities. As tradition dictates, this will be a celebrity affair, though the line up will please the average muso a lot more than past versions of the iconic charity record.  Speaking to Vulture, F*cked Up frontman Pink Eyes revealed: "[We already have] David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV On The Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo all confirmed. I'm still waiting on confirmation from Feist, Jarvis Cocker and MIA. We wanted the biggest people we could get. If we could get a Jonas Brother on this, I would get a Jonas Brother".  F*cked Up's not very friendly label Matador have confirmed the 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' plans, though no word yet on a release date.

DEBUT ALBUM FROM ART BRUT SIDE PROJECT.... Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now, which is the side project of Art Brut's Eddie Argos and The Blood Arm's Dyan Valdes, will release an album called 'Fixin The Charts' in January.

Monday Monday, no Red House Painters here, C-C-C-C-Changes, we can change things when ever we want, welcome to the new look old school hape of things here at Organ... More news, reviews and all the things we didn't do today sometime later..
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6th NOV '09: NEWS: GRIZZLY BEAR DATES....For next March. As follows...8 Mar: Gateshead, The Sage, 9 Mar: Edinburgh, Queens Hall, 11 Mar: Brighton, Corn Exchange, 12 Mar: Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre, 13 Mar: London, Roundhouse
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NEWS: 65DAYSOFSTATIC, a band we covered and played lots back when they were a demo band making their first moves, havenow sold out their forthcoming Heaven gig and added a club night on the day after. Dates look like this... 13th November: Cheltenham, Two Pigs (DJ set), 17th November: Manchester, Academy 2. 18th November: London, Heaven.(sold out, bad luck), 19th December: London, Matter (club night, late show), 10th December: Dublin, Tripod. And that’s your lot until next year so they say.... And since Heaven is sold out, if you fancy heading out to the Matter show, are very kindly offering discount tickets to the first 100 people who the promo code ’65 Days’ when ordering from here. Matter is a full-on club night. “We’re surrounded by House DJs, so although will definitely be a live show from us, maybe we’ll try and mix it up little bit...”

3rd NOV '09: NEWS: JOHN LEE BIRD presents a selection of paintings from Before Encore alongside new work You Made Me. All happens at 10 Gales Gardens under the arches in Bethnal Green, East London. Opening view on Thursday 5th November, 6pm - 9pm with special guest performances including Princess Knickers and more to be announced. Exhibition runs from Friday 6th November to Tuesday 1st December. There’s imagery, links and more over here

That new LONDON GIG GUIDE we told you about a few weeks ago is really coming together nicely now, are you making use of it yet (assuming you live in London or you’re in a band who are playing London or...). Things are building, spread the word, get it book-marked. This is one of the real genuine alternatives, something that’s actually useful out there in cluttered up webland... Simple to use, no messing, none of the corporate bulpoop you find with most of the Time Out style mainstream media gig guides that never ever seem to have any or the real gigs listed. We desperately need an on the case London gig guide we can trust, one that tells us where ‘our’ bands are playing rather than just the big ones and the X factor tribute bands and the Bon Jovi forty five quid for the cheapest ticket blah blah blahs.... This is a real genuine alternative that actually, for once, seems to be on the case and getting the real alternative gigs at places like The Lexington or The Old Blue Last or Cargo covered rather than just telling us what’s going on at the overpriced Relentless O2 HMV mobile phone energy drink arena this week. Other attempts to do this have crashed out after a couple of months, we need this one.  Feed this one you bands, labels, venues, alternative promoters and such, this is to everyone’s advantage. Feed in your info, support it, help it grow, don’t take it for granted, get involved. The guide is already something vital, we certainly need it here in the Organ office, we have it book-marked and use it every single day now.. www.londongigs.net

NEWS: COLD IN BERLIN (née Death Cigarettes) have just been confirmed as guest support at the Black Poets single launch tonight, 3rd November  at 93 Ft East, Brick Lane, London, on stage at 7.30. Free entry before 8 and free champagne while it lasts. www.myspace.com/coldinberlin
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NEWS: BLUR'S ROWNTREE ON HIS CHANCES OF BECOMING AN MP - Blur's Dave Rowntree has admitted he doesn't rate his chances of becoming an MP at next year's General Election. He is standing as Labour candidate in the Cities Of London And Westminster constituency. To be fair, even if the Labour Party weren't expected to take a kicking at next year's big vote, that particular constituency would be hard for anyone but a Tory to win. Telling the Guardian "I'm not a betting man, but if I was, even I wouldn't bet on me winning", he admitted that campaigning for Labour in a decidedly Tory constituency was a slog. But he added: "Activism is by its nature a slog, but it depends why you're doing it... I'm seeing where the problems are in my neighbourhood and trying to sort them out. The best part is knocking on doors and offering help". (CMU)

ORGAN RECOMMENDS: SAINT SILAS INTERCESSION, VUKOJEBINA on 5th Nov @ BAR AND CO (a boat on the river), Temple Pier, Victoria Embankment, London, WC2 -  “Dear All, Saint Silas Intercession are back with a new line up, the four headed beast now includes Andy Zammit on drums and Simon Breed on bass as well as me and my little brother Patrick” says band leader Michael J Sheehy. Filthy dirty low slung garage flavoured electric blues, laced with edgy soul and bags of Catholic barroom guilty. Doesn’t get much better than a live encounter Saint Silas. First show for a few years, on a boat, fireworks everywhere...

1st NOV '09:  SUNDAY IS RADIO DAY HERE AT ORGAN, this is your weekly reminder cut and paste from last time's weekly reminder, ORGAN on air tonight at 9.00pm on what is by far London's finest radio station, RESONANCE 104.4FM, hear it on FM all over London or on line via www.resonancefm.com worldwide. This week me, Sean, with a whole bag load of the left field other rock, prog, punk, prog-punk, challenging metal, new wave other wave post rock, post hardcore, postman pat, black and white cats and an hour's worth of the bands no one else much seems to play on proper FM radio anymore... some of the more left-field musical things we talk of here on the Organ pages...
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NEWS: HALLOWEEN AT MUTATE BRITAIN – The good people underneath the Westway at Mutate Britain have announced that they’ll be holding a special event this Saturday 31st October to celebrate Halloween. So far at the exhibition, each weekend has been highlighted by a spectacular parade. This Saturday, in honour of Halloween, there will be a special Halloween parade, in trademark Mutate style as once again some of the exhibits will be paraded through the crowds. Exhibits featuring include Lyall Rowell’s Lrry the Dog, Jo Peacock and Packa Horse. The parade is expected to begin around 7:45pm. The Westway will be decorated in full holiday season style and Mutate’s festival atmosphere will be at a peak. The exhibition will be open as normal from 12pm to 10pm, Saturday 31st October. Admission is £1 before 6pm and £3 after. There is a fully stocked bar and food available courtesy of Andi Oliver and Neneh Cherry. Mutate is under the Westway, Ladbrook Grove, West London, this is the final weekend of the show that’s packed with Mutoid Waste Company scrap-sculpture, street art, graffiti, stencil art, counter culture and... Well grab it all while you still can...