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ALBUM REVIEW: HEARTBREAK STEREO – Inspiration: Back From The Dead (Boss Tuneage) – Energetic Clash style Social Distortions from Southwest Finland. The band self released this album back in 2008, they’ve been selling it at gigs and such, Boss T have just picked it up and now in theory you can buy it any decent record shop. Healthy mix of blue collar melodic energetic street punk should you want it – www.bosstuneage.com or www.heartbreakstereo.com

Noel’s Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere:  “It's all got a bit mad over here. This swine flu malarky is freaking people out. Landed at Crack’arse airport yesterday. All the ground staff are wearing those little white face masks! ALL OF THEM. It was like something out of another Stephen King novel. I suddenly feel quite naked without one.
       Then if that wasn't bad enough my mam called me at that very moment and tells me to be "careful" or I WILL die of pig flu. I swear at that point I did a massive sneeze and the entire airport fell silent and started to stare!! I WANT A MASK!!!
       Crack’arse, it must be said, is not the most glamourous of destinations, despite what we were led to believe as kids from that film Gregory’s Girl.
      I currently have an armed guard outside my room! What does that say? Am I vulnerable to a robbery from room service? Anyway, could be worse, at least the sun's out and I have a balcony and it's 86 degrees. Mind you, what about snipers (as Bobby Gillespie once said to me as we were getting pissed in my back garden)?? In a bit”. Noel it seems is in Lima, Peru - blogs.myspace.com/oasis

NEWS: For those bothered, GALLOWS are celebrating the release of 'Grey Britain' with an instore performance at the Rough Trade shop over in East London’s Brick Lane on May 4th. Performance starts at 7pm.  Wristband Collection one hour prior to gig, all on a first come first served basis, one per person, you need to have a wristband to get in, I guess this one is going to be a bit of a scrum. Of course if we were of a mind, we’d take this opportunity to big ourselves up and remind you who was first to cover them back in their messy fractured demo and hand written note days and indeed who was first to play them on the radio, we’re not of a mind though, been there, done that, good on ‘em. No, today we’re more concerned with the art of knitting and dropped stitches down the South Bank where someone has been doing some guerrilla knitting and covering the hand rails down by the skatepit and such in a rather creatively healthy way, knitting is far more punk rock than instore product placement. Looms and shuttle throwing... 

DEMO REVIEW: THE SECRET INVASION – Rather interestingly different two track demo disc from Middlesborough and a band with more than a healthy touch of Wedding Present about them. A touch of Gedge, a twist or two all of their own - second song is particularly intriguing with those harmonies and those deep rich wordy salutes. www.myspace.com/thesecretinvasion
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NEWS: Skart: 'Poetry will be Written by All' performance event - Thursday 7th May (as part of First Thursdays) 6 - 9pm @ 129 - 131 Mare St, London, E8. Belgrade based art activist collective Skart lead an informal session in the gallery with live actions, collaborative poetry and embroidery. The event also offers a chance to see Skart's current retrospective exhibition 'On the Origin of Wishes' which runs until the 22nd May. More from www.spacestudios.org.uk

ALBUM REVIEW: THE OLYMPIC SYMPHONIUM – More In Sorrow Than Anger (Forward Music) – Very subtle, very gentle, rather beautifully accomplished, quietly moving less is more Americana and ten intimate soothing wordy songs that slowly seep in and take you with them. Genuine, sincere, contemplative... Strings, gentle banjo, soothing pedal steel and just a whole set of restrained quietly inviting tender lush songs, words, smells. Takes a little time to get in to, once you do, you’ll want to stay in... www.myspace.com/theolympicsymphonium or www.forwardmusicgroup.com

AUSTIN GALLERY AND BENNY’S BAR can be found at 119A Bethnal Green Road, London, E2. Austin’s is a bar, cafe and more importantly a rather alternative DIY street art gallery. Friendly small converted shop of a gallery full of easy chairs, and serving cakes, toasted ciabatta, home made soup and award winning coffee (they seem to be very proud of their award winning coffee). The cafe now has an evening time alter ego as Benny’s Bar. The walls are lined with a whole manner of good looking rather inspiring street art and alternative creativity, music is piped through vintage boomboxes and there’s beer garden to the rear with regularly updated murals. Downstairs is the small basement gallery which hosts monthly street art exhibitions by both UK and worldwide artists. Right now the downstairs gallery features a selection of works by rather impressive French artist SPaRK. There  doesn't appear to be a website for Austin's right now. There's some SPaRK art just down there, well worth dropping in to the very friendly gallery/cafe if you're passing (which we were when the colour caught our eye and curiosity pulled us in)...
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28th April '09: The maggots in your house of flies pulling it down brick by brick....

DEMO REVIEW: DEATH OF THE ELEPHANT – Holiday - They’re deliciously raw and messy, “Here’s a CD for you” says the colourfully hand written letter, “rough and DIY, not because we’re old school, but because we’re poor...”. Keep them poor we say! Noisy trash raw old school messy garage punk rock and the last thing they need is budget and production and ‘proper things’ like that destroying their positive energy and that beautifully raw edge. Punky “noisy garage punk stuff” of a frantic Gossip, Babes In Toyland, Bikini Kill nature. There’s three of them, girl singer, two boys, some kind of Anglo American Chelmsford meets California thing going on  (Certainly busy playing South of England gigs so I guess they’re based over here). Spot on in your face grrrl fronted punk rock raw shouty energy, check ‘em out but don’t give them any money or anything, keep this band poor and raw.... www.myspace.com/deathoftheelephant

NEWS: OH, HELLO ROLO TOMASSI VIDEO – Seems Hassle Records have released a new video for, 'Oh, Hello Ghost', the opening track from Rolo Tomassi's debut album, 'Hysterics'. It's got mannequins and fairy lights in it. What more do you want? See it here

NEWS: MASTODON have announced a string of intimate club shows before heading off around Europe with Metallica. The tour dates look like this: 5 Jun: Sheffield, Corporation, 6 Jun: Manchester, Academy 2, 7 Jun: Glasgow, ABC, 9 Jun: London, Islington Academy

ALBUM REVIEW: THE VIPERS – The Boys On The Burning Deck (Northern Hoodoo) – They manage to simultaneously taste of both the fractured hungry early days of Motorhead and the cantankerous confrontation of The Fall. Hear it all right there in the death rattle and that raw edgy Northern garage punk grit that’s alive with all their to the bones and that “we’re maggots in your house of flies pulling it down brick by brick....”. They got ‘it’ there, caught up in their caustic solitary pleasures and their bloodshot eyes, their fractious electricity and their muscle tearing. This is the debut full length album from the Manchester crew, we’ve told you about them before, they’re good and now they got an album to back up all the hope of those demos and such. Snarling spitting garage rock attitude and that songs that bite, no need to lock doors here, no crying wolf, smell if blood in the air, nothing for your screams, garage rock bastards – www.wearethevipers.co.uk
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ALBUM REVIEW: HEY! TONAL – Hey! Tonal (African Tape) – Experimental music and a band with slightly different approach. Collaborations from people involved in such fine bands as Storm & Stress, Sweep The Leg Johnny, Species Being, Sleeping People, ZZZZ’s, Maps & Atlases and all constructed and played with such rewarding instrumental pin-point otherness. Cleverly constructed math rock, delicately controlled intertwining obtuse fluidity, music that just flows in a natural soothing easy (complex) manner. That world music feeling, easy on the ear experiments, that touch of Battles/Don Caballero meticulousness... Well worth your time, a touch of something a little extra in these crowded mathy times. Released in the UK on May 4th – www.myspace.com/heytonal or www.africantape.com

SINGLE REVIEW: ATTICA RAGE – Dark City /Overkill (Vanduara) – A pretty straight ahead no messing raw blistered cover of Motorhead’s classic Overkill makes up one half of this CD single. Pretty much sums up Glasgow’s Attica Rage really, even their very Motorheadish logo has been designed by Motorhead art man Joe Paetagno. They turn in a decent enough cover, they sound like they’re having a righteous blast. Meanwhile Dark City starts out like that’s going to be Overkill as well... colours well and truly nailed here then, does what it says on the tin, only way to feel the noise.... Out on May 4th – www.myspace.com/atticarage
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Who got played last night? How do you find our more? 

1/intro: TRANSISTOR SIX – Back Yard Rocketship (Blackbean & Placenta)
2: EXTRA LIFE – The Refrain (Loaf)
3: LAKE OF DRACULA –  Biografier Av Det Gloende Rod Druglords (Sinraft)
4: THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS – Demonic Velcities.20,000,000 Volts (Skingraft)
5: PSYOPUS – Kill Us (Metalblade)
6: YOWIE – Trina (Skingraft)
7: APE SCHOOL –  Wail To God (Counter)
8: COMUS –  Diana (Dawn)
9: STONEPHACE –  Contextual Meaning (Tru Thoughts)
10: ANGEL WITCH –  Angel Witch (Bronze)
11: MI AMI –  Pressure (Quarterstick)
12: ANARCHISTWOOD – Don’t Bulshit The Artist (Ex-Gratia)
13: GUANTANAMO BABES –  Paint It Beige (demo)
14: HARVEY MILK – Death Goes To The Winner (Hydra Head)
15: MEXICAN INSTITUTE OF SOUND – Sinfonia Agridulce (Cooking Vinyl)
16: SHANA TOVA – Ants (Viann And Violet)
17: VESSELS – Fully Altered Beast – Lee J. Malcomn remix (Cuckundoo)

The details of last night's show, the links, dates, words and more...

26th April '09: SUNDAY IS RADIOHEAD DAY, these things take a little thought and time and an afternoon of throwing things in to the CD chewing machine, is that good enough to play? Does this excite us enough? We on, as always, on London's finest radio station, Resonance 104.4FM, you can hear it on proper FM radio in London, world wide via www.resonancefm.com, 9.00pm. this week my  turn (Sean) with a whole bag of new releases, demo recordings, alternative punk flavoured new wave post rock contradiction, new things, classic old things, got to play some Comus this week. Loads of things to be considered. Other Rock as it were, new music, gig news, the things we talk about here on this page, radio unfriendly alternatives... We're on just after the magicians and before the found sound art people who always make us think we've broken something in the studio down there in London Bridge...

Resonance104.4fm is London's first radio art station. Its brief? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formulae of mainstream broadcasting. It features programmes made by musicians, artists and critics who represent the diversity of London's arts scene,

Resonance104.4fm is bringing a multitude of experimental sound, new music, radio art and interaction to the capital's airwaves. Resonance104.4fm broadcasts from the heart of London and is simultaneously streamed on the web at www.resonancefm.com where you can also check out our full programme listings.  Resonance104.4fm is the only station of its kind in the UK, providing access radio for London's arts community. Resonance is seven years old next week... we're all volunteers, this is a labour of love... 
 

NEWS: JOHN ZORN, COMUS and more for Equinox Festival. The festival happens between June 12-14th in London: “The Equinox Festival, a 3 day media arts festival dedicated to spiritual discovery and mystical tradition”
               The line up looks like this: Friday (June 12) taking place at Camden Centre - John Zornm Z'EV, James Ferraro, Hati... Saturday (June 13) taking place at Conway Hall – Comus, Burial Hex, Kinit Her, K11 / Pietro Riparbelli, Yan-gant-y-tan... Sunday (June 14) taking place at Conway Hall - Threshold House Boys Choir, Aethenor, T.A.G.C, Deiter Muh, Pestrepeller. More from www.equinoxfestival.org

ALBUM REVIEW: THE ORANGE MAN THEORY – Satan Told Me I’m Right (Subsound) – Raging spitting screaming hardcore punked up death flavoured metal snarl from Rome. A no messing onslaught of a hissing growing boiled-up four piece. Orange is the colour of the high speed season, relentless in your face on your toes metal with a hardcore edge and a twist or two with their touch of yapping groove. A fine slice or two of in your face relentless extreme metal, well worth wrapping your ears around for the full eleven rounds of non-stop pounding... www.myspace.com/theorangemantheory / www.subsoundrecords.it

SINGLE REVIEW: JON HOPKINS - Light Through The Veins (Double Six) – Quiet slice of epic glowing soothing come-down atmosphere and some rather progressive feelgood early morning electronica from Jon Hopkins. Single from the forthcoming album. Apparently Coldplay have been using Light Through The Veins to bookend their Viva La Viva shows, that makes perfect sense, nine minutes of chilled and polished epic instrumental goodness, the single is out on March 27th, comes with a couple of decent remixes from David Holmes and Ewan Pearson - www.myspace.com/jonhopkins. There's a You Tube here
 

“Strangeness is the indispensable condiment of all beauty” -    Boudelaire 

Here’s some blurb and background 

William Blanchard started his career as a musician with his first band Bruce Wayne and the Batniks back in the Eighties, a time in which he says he had a rock and roll epiphany involving sex and drugs, during in which God gave him the name Wildcat, a name he has used as an artist and musician ever since. 

“Wildcat Will has taken inspiration for this exhibition from Joseph Cornell (1903-72) who created ‘poetry from the commonplace’ especially with his boxed assemblages created from found objects, and the west coast artist Wallace Berman (1926-76) with reference to the privately made and published issues of ‘SEMINA‘ whose contributors included Antonin Artaud, Charles Bukowski, William S Burroughs, Marion Grogan, Stuart Perkoff, Jean Cocteau and Allen Ginsberg. Inspiration was also drawn from his collages and work with esoteric and mystical imagery using the early mimeograph machines.

Wildcat Will formed The Sandals in 1990, they existed for five years, releasing music with that rather confused label known as London Records (we here at Organ were doing a lot of art for bands associated with London at that time, those Atom Seed days and such, do recall being asked to do Sandals covers at one point by the label, we later heard that suggestion hadn’t gone down well with the band, seems they had ideas of their own – asking bands what they wanted to do never did seem to be a priority at London, the stories we could tell). Wildcat moved on from The Sandals before moving on to form an art/music/poetry collective, which included paintings and installations in galleries and clubs in London, L.A and Tokyo. from 1995-2002 ‘Wildcat’ played drums for Beth Orton, touring on and off for 7 years and recording the albums (Trailer Park, Central Reservation and Daybreaker), he played drums for Dot Allison, The Aloof, and more recently Whitey 2003-07. Wildcat has worked and collaborated with Jagz Kooner (Sabres of Paradise), Death in Vegas (Contino Sessions, Satan’s Circus), Andrew Weatherall (Two Lone Swordsmen) David Holmes, Primal Scream and James Lavelle. Recent projects have included co-producing, writing, playing drums, guitar and synths on the new album by his long term partner Siobhan Fahey (Bananrama, Shakespear’s sister), drumming for The Wolfmen (Marco Pirroni and Chris Constantionou (Adam and theAnts) session work on Dirty Stop out - Agent Provocateur creator Joe Corre’s new band with Mick Jones (The Clash), and last year with Le Volume Courbe and Arthur Delaney (Young and Lost). Wildcat is also writing and producing music as part of a duo with Matty Skylab known as The Electric Moccasins of Doom. Wildcat Will has returned to making art after an enforced hiatus and this is his first solo show in London for 5 years” – enough with the cutting ‘n pasting with the biog already.... 

The rather inviting rather basic Neu Gallery is in a dark looking seen better days shell of a one time shop down in Redchurch Street (next to the Owl And Pussycat should you know the area), there’s a whole load of people standing outside drinking and talking when we arrive a couple of hours after the official opening, bit of a party atmosphere... Push through the black shop door into the overloud music and there’s a wall of rather intriguing pieces of boxed found art, collage, framed sculpture, faded assemblages, torn pages, labels. Some of the twenty-six pieces work a little more that others - the collage, the pop art, the Americana and the 50’s comic book bites next the touches of Brasso, the Edwardian colours and the plastic moths, the rather different use of stencil and the almost English Victorian yellowed 60’s comic book Americana Cat Women and such... Wildcat has pulled together a good looking set of images to form some rather decent pieces - ideas that work, images that should contradict awkwardly and really don’t, not sure about those plastic moths and butterflies... A quietly lit dark old shop is just the place to experience Assemblage. Dusty old boxes for frames, faded sputniks, Action Man targets, contradiction that doesn’t contradict... well worth dropping by and exploring a little, well worth taking in the subtle assembly, the revenge of the lizard man and the holy bagatelle. 

The show runs from Friday 24th April to Wednesday 6th May 2009 at THE MAURICE EINHARDT NEU GALLERY 30A Redchurch Street, London E2, more from the Neu website - www.neugalleries.com or www.myspace.com/wildcatwillspace
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SINGLE REVIEW: APE SCHOOL – Wail To God (Counter) - Do rather like this Ape School four track single, can’t pin it down, good. Most music can be pinned down in an instant, far too easy to pin most things down. Most music can be pinned down and passed by in an instant... Michael Johnston, for he appears to be Ape School, with some kind of glam rock that’s nothing like glam rock and something like something that’s alive with that smell of alternative progness and some delicious vocal harmonies in there with the subtle twist. Mini-epics, American epics, Fleet Foxes for Bobby Conn disciples who like a slice or two of Todd Rundgren with their afternoon alternative cup of Earl Grey tea. More than a touch of Syd Barrett there in the phrasing, all very alt American and very now and and Madcap Laughs Syd all at the same time - definite touch of Syd Barrett in there in a very North American twenty first century way of things – great drumming as well. Great songs, great things, great ape...  www.myspace.com/apeschool. Out on the 4th May on Ninja Tune offshoot Counter Records – www.counterrecords.com

From: RIP CRUNCHER
To: ORGAN
Date: 24 Apr 2009, 19:11
Subject: Bang bang bang, splatter, smash, rip etc....

Yes, yessss...Assaulter. I see what you mean - almost got me bullet belt out of the bottom drawer for a minute there. And what with the guitarist having a ridiculus moniker like T.Hellfinder you can't go wrong. Wonder what the T stands for? Trevor?
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Here, direct from a cut’n paste of the press release that just landed here, is a brief overview of just a few of the amazing things they have lined up for you. 

“The East End Film Festival is fast becoming the UK's leading showcase for feature debuts, with international and UK first features vying for our 'Best First Feature' jury prizes. The festival will welcome talented emerging directors from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria, India and more, who will be presenting and discussing their work. On Friday is the eagerly-awaited UK premiere of the East End set CITY RATS starring Danny Dyer, who puts in an astonishing performance against type as a struggling alcoholic. Alongside Danny is an all-star cast who'll be in attendance for the premiere and afterparty. Also from the UK comes HELEN, the debut feature from The Desperate Optimists, which will be screened alongside a retrospective of their award winning shorts.

If panel discussions are your thing, you'll find plenty to tickle your fancy in the programme of panel events. Guests include Will Self, Brian Catling, Michael Bracewell and Iain Sinclair, who will be curating a whole weekend of films and events at the Rio, and presenting his 'Hackney Diaries', a collection of remarkable footage shot around Hackney in the 1970's.

We've hardly scraped the surface here of the packed programme, so head over to the website to browse the other exciting screenings and events on offer, which include twelve short film programmes, a ten-hour Mid- Length Film Jam presented by Cinephilia, live music to suit all tastes, week-long exhibitions, outdoor screenings, rolling seminars and so much more. Full details across at www.eastendfilmfestival.com

ALBUM REVIEW: LIAM McKAHEY & THE BODIES – Lonely Road (Series 8) – He out of Cousteau gone solo in a Nick Cave Tindersticks baritone early Scott Walker kind of way... not bad if your head is in that kind of space and melancholic spells filling hearts with emptiness or pain that feels like bliss are your thing... he certainly has a voice. www.myspace.com/liammckahey
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NEWS: NOAM CHOMSKY on London’s finest radio station, Resonance 104.4FM... In something of an exclusive, the studio guest on the Little Atoms show this coming Friday is the world renown linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky. Little Atoms, 7:00 - 7:30pm Friday April 24th.
         Noam Chomsky has been described as the world’s greatest public intellectual. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Chomsky earned his academic stripes as a young linguistics professor at MIT in the 1950s. His theory of transformational grammar, forged at this time, posits that the capability to form structured language is innate to the human mind. But the general public first came to know Chomsky for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war. For more than 40 years, he has been the academy’s loudest and most consistent critic of US policies at home and abroad. Chomsky has written more than 40 books, including American Power and the New Mandarins, Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy and Failed States, and continues to lecture frequently, as prolific a provocateur as ever. 

Resonance can be heard on 104.4FM in London and worldwide via www.resonancefm.com
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STOP PRESS: The Stonephace release has been delayed until 4th May.
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ALBUM REVIEW:THE SCARAMANGA SIX – Songs Of Prey (Wrath) - Galloping in from the land of ice and sun there... Is it their best album yet? Possibly? The Scaramanga Six always have made decent enough albums though, this is their sixth one. That tradition of grandiose English rock and not making cakes without breaking some eggs... the ambition of The Who, the progressive end of The Kinks, Traffic, Roxy and maybe if they hadn’t bitten the hand that feeds so much.... A big rock beast that manages to somehow sound ambitiously 70’s, post New Wave 80’s and a little more now all at the same time – timeless then, timeless lectures over lifetimes to get you in the mood. I didn’t get where I am today without knowing a thwarted silk purse that’s as fine as a pig’s ear. The rude awakening of classic new wave Stranglers and all set out with good intentions and not just a trick of your mind and a lamb that can lie beside a lion. Hang on, here comes the sinister twist and the punball wizard and fortune’s narrowed eye and leaping through the woods with jigsaw pieces..  Punball indeed, night flights to remember. Death by misadventure, another new beginning, doing it the hard way, no need to runaway, always worth the stay, a pillar of the community... Tiny epic and the Scaramanga Six have made themselves another rather decent rather original album for those who like it like The Who or The Stranglers or... There’s a touch of Northern working men’s club about them, more than a touch of Pulp, and if we were to be just a little critical then we’d say they do tend to hang around on the same level when it comes to the dynamic - after a while you really need a different minister with a new drug to administer, a different texture, another level up (or down), just another dimension... ? The Scaramanga Six always have made decent enough albums though, this is their sixth one, probably as good as anything you heard today. www.thescaramangasix.co.uk

NEWS: DEERHOOF will play a short UK tour this summer, this is good, here are the dates to get you bouncing like a basketball: June 28th - Leeds, TJ's Woodhouse Club, June 29th - Manchester, The Deaf Institute, July 1st - London, The Scala, July 2nd - Brighton, Concorde 2, July 3rd - London, Hyde Park Special guests to Blur and already as sold out as can be.... is this new stripped back version of Organ making sense? 
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"Like a man with a fork in a world of soup" said Noel of Liam. So we stopped at issue 299 and changed things. We might put more up tomorrow, we might not, maybe next week if something enters our heads, come back and see. It was all getting too easy wasn’t it, predictable, gathering at the end of every week for another issue, deadlines, who got album of the week? PR types from uncaring record labels barking at us for reviews in their rude way, who needs deadlines restricting our excitment when we drinking a nice pint in the Robuck and admiring the glorious view Turner painted, far better use of time rather than fighting through the MyFace complacency of most bands, that or sitting on Ian Dury’s Reasons To Be Cheerful bench... What we need are 17 singers to join us there... it was the reference to Peter Prendergast that pulled us in to the 17... that's when all the commitment and energy and fighting with 4bs and paper came from... "You're not looking!"

             Interesting piece on the Arts Review site from Charles Darwent entitled The Order of Things...  He writes “Let us imagine that the Andrew Brownsword Art Foundation, owners of Alfred Sisley’s View of the Thames: Charing Cross Bridge, decided, in a fit of good will, to give the picture to the nation. Glasses might be raised to Mr Brownsword, a millionaire dealer in teddy-bear cards; effusive speeches might be made. Then what? Something like this. The day after the announcement, Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, rings the Foundation to ask, in his mild-mannered way, when he might expect delivery of the painting? Sisley was British, after all, and Tate Britain’s remit is to show British art.
     There is an embarrassed pause.
             Moment’s before Deuchar’s call, the Foundation has taken another – from Nicholas Penny this time, director of the National Gallery, likewise enquiring after an ETA for View of the Thames. Sisley was born in France and lived there all his life. He may have had a British passport and parents, but he was French to the tips of his button boots, not to mention his Impressionist brushes. The National Gallery houses Britain’s collection of Old Art, defined as work made before 1900, most of it non-British.View of the Thames was painted in 1874: ergo..." read on over on the always interesting AR website

DEMO REVIEW:  WIDOW’S MITE – two track demo from a new Sheffield band. There’s some early signs of ambition here, they’re playing around with those ideas that flirt with post hardcore noise and that indie/post-rock quiet, they have a hint or two of an emerging musical personality and a desire to push themselves just a little than your average band... Lot of those quiet build up to a throat-ripping scream things going on at the moment and it is a little obvious right now - early days though, there are little hints of good band making their first early moves here, something just might develop, could do with being a little less obvious about it, worth keeping an eye on to see where they take it - www.myspace.com/widowsmiteband
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ALBUM REVIEW: ISLAND LINE – Island Line (Punchbag/Autonomy) – According to Emiliana Torrini, “Island Line are beautiful like a newly baked chocolate cake and a glass of cold milk” and we really couldn’t have put it better, that fresh taste of ice cold milk from the stripped down chocolate cake two piece. They take their name from Leadbelly’s Rock Island Line and their delicately strong sweet sounding simple (clever) lo-fi blues flavoured country folk has that back to the start Rock Island feel... far more delicate and fragile though and she has such a sugar sweet voice. She is Hazel Sainsbury, he’s Ian Kellett, they’re like endless cups of tea and smiles that aim to please, like days of sunshine and sitting on the steps – simple things, simple songs, delightfully English things, English even though they have that country twang and those slide guitars and that taste of breezy sunny carefree Americana.. A simple sunny crafted country pop delight of an album – www.myspace.com/islandline

ALBUM REVIEW: HATESPHERE – To The Nines (Napalm) – See this is the thing about all recorded music having already been done theory that Mr Drummond has filled our heads with. We’ve got Hatesphere here blasting their way through some well played aggressive old school growing death-edged thrash metal brutality. There’s not a lot wrong with it – good sound, well produced, slices of melody cutting the aggression and the hardcore thrash metal confrontation when they need it to cut. The Copenhagen band have dropped a number of albums now and this is as good as anything they’ve done, this is as good as anything any old-school thrash metal outfit has dropped in recent times. But hey, haven’t we heard this same rather competent ‘professional’ standard issue decent enough rule-obeying thrash metal album a million times already over the last twenty or so extreme metal years? Answers on a postcard to Rip Cruncher’s wounded middle digit c/o The Tate Modern, Department of Heavy Metal, Just past Henry Moore, Somewhere over the rainbow, beyond Kansas... Hear Hatesphere yourself over at www.myspace.com/hatesphere – To The Nines is probably the best thrash metal album we encountered in recent weeks... so many others have been thrown in to the CD chewing machine only to have the bad tempered beast spit them straight out again in a fit if utter putrefied underwhelmed boredom... There’s a pile of them over there in the corner, all waiting to become part of a sculpture or a landfill or something a little more worthwhile. Hatesphere are alright, now the review is done, I don’t expect we’ll ever listen to this album again. Assaulter on the other hand... 

ALBUM REVIEW: ASSAULTER – Salvation Like Destruction (Pulverised) – Well we’ll skip past that name with a gentle smile and tell you that this raw blackened speed/death metal (From Australia so it seems) is so messy and unprocessed that in some kind of perversely bad way they’re really rather diabolically good. Good in that gloriously bad way Hellhammer were, or Venom, or Kreator, not quite as good obviously, perversely good raw blistered splatter metal, feels good and crunchy, well worth your time – www.myspace.com/burningfront

ALBUM REVIEW: STORSVEIT NIX NOLTES – Royal Family Divorce (Fat Cat) – A big nine piece instrumental folk band from Reykjavik, Iceland. They don’t sound very Icelandic, probably something to do with their fascination with folk music from Bulgaria and the Balkan areas. They certainly deliver their music with rumbustious forthright style, sounds like they’d be a blast live and they certainly know how to play, not sure who’s going to want to sit around listening to rather traditional sounding Bulgarian folk music from Iceland though. Royal Family Divorce is out now in the UK on Fat Cat Records. – www.fat-cat.co.uk or www.myspace.com/storsveitnixnoltes
 

NEWS: BISHOP ALLEN - “Hello there Organ (said Gillian), Hope all is good with you? As Bishop Allen will be playing in the UK in a couple of weeks and as they had a good review in Organ for 'Grrr...' I wondered whether it may be possible to get some coverage? Here is all the information as before... Needless to say it would be great if so...!”
      Bishop Allen announce their digital first single from 'Grrr...' Out on May 4th 'The Ancient Common Sense Of Things' will be released just in time for their UK dates which are.. May 06 Manchester @ Cafe SakiM May 07 In-store - London @ Pure Groove Records 1.15pm. Later – Bardens Boudoir, May 08 Cardiff @ Clwb, May 09 Reading @ Oakford, May 10 Brixton @ The Windmill, Hear the band over at www.myspace.com/bishopallen, the Organ album review can be read on this page here
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Well we’ve revisited the pile, we’ve been hopefully throwing CDs in the disc chewing machine all morning, nothing has inspired anything yet, we were not able to plug in, tune in, tune out, no revolution to televise today.... Right now we’ve got some rather flat Stone Roses Charlatans wannabes without a spark of anything playing over there in the corner, they claim to be a start of a scene, yeah right. This morning we’ve had Wildhearts impersonators, we had rather average Fuzztones types, now we’ve moved on to one of those chirpy Scouse Cast types, why do yer send us this stuff la? Did you get yourself a Sonic Youth ticket this morning? Not bothered? That new track didn’t ignite us much either, guess the thing is alright, standard issue Sonic Youth, you can hear it here if you want...  Lot of average music being made, maybe all recorded music has run it’s course? Maybe Bill is right, cut up your once treasured Sarge Pepper in to little pieces and go do something else... But then there the Bitter Sweat Symphony of the Mexican Institute Of Sound, and the M.I.S are today’s hopeful diamond in the dust sent to save us from it all, they are the hand stitched red buttons that make our coat different to all the other coats. Change the buttons on your coat, wear ribbons...

Now I don’t know about you but a comet called Thatcher heading our way bothers me, something in that name...

Space Weather News for April 21: MORNING METEORS:  Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher, the source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower.  Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Wednesday, April 22nd, with a display of 10 to 20 meteors per hour over the northern hemisphere.  Occasionally, Earth passes through a dense region of the comet's tail and rates surge five- to ten-fold.  In 1982, for instance, observers were surprised by an outburst of 90 Lyrids per hour. Because Thatcher's tail has never been mapped in detail, the outbursts are unpredictable and could happen again at any time.  The best time to look, no matter where you live, is during the dark hours before dawn on Wednesday morning April 22nd, full coverage over at Spaceweather. And and and, even if the Lyrids fizzle, there is still something wonderful to see on Wednesday morning, April 22nd. The crescent Moon and Venus are going to have a close encounter of jaw-dropping beauty.  Look low and to the east just before sunrise.  Observers in western parts of North America will see a lunar occultation: Venus will disappear behind the Moon's limb just after 5am PDT and reappear again an hour or so later. - www.spaceweather.com

ORGAN OTHER ROCK SHOW on Resonance 104.4FM in London or www.resonancefm.com worldwide.  9.00PM Sunday 19th April  2009 - this week it was Marina's turn with her OTHER ROCK SHOW and the exploration of rock music beyond the conventions of mere 4/4... Here's who got played.. 

Intro: PHANTOMSMASHER - Bishop Hopping (Ipecac)
1:  KOENJIHYAKKEI - Vallczeremdoss (Skingraft)
2:  VIALKA - Trop Tard (self release) 
3:  GORGE TRIO - The Age Of Almost Living (Skingraft)
4:  GENTLE GIANT - The Advent Of Panurge (Band Of Joy)
5:  CHEER ACCIDENT - Blue Cheadle (Cuneiform)
6:  AHLEUCHATISTAS - Last Spark From God (Cuneiform)
7:  GORGE TRIO - Dawn Of A Piccolo (Skingraft)
8:  BIRDSONGS OF THE MESOZOIC - Excavation No 32 (Cuneiform)
9:  JONO EL GRANDE - Big Ben Dover (Rune Grammofon)
10:  GUAPO - The Selenotrope (Neurot)
11:  KOENJIHYAKKEI – Maschtervoz (Skingraft)
12:  CARDIACS "Buds And Spawn" (Alphabet)

THE DETAILS, links and more
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DEMO REVIEW:BINEWSKI – Inside The Reptile House (self release). Sixteen and a half minutes of considered energy, is it all one song or some kind of joined together eleven track mini concept album? They’re from North West London and this is an ever shifting scape of goodness. Kind of cleverly constructed pop rock energy and colourful urgentness, their webpages reveal very little. A quarter of an hour of well produced concept pop rock, colourful modern pop rock that pokes sticks at My Chemical Romance, that bites down to the bones of Enter Shikari – far better than both actually and you sir, give me a shilling if you are willing... No, scratch those reference points and those way off-target name drops, Binewski’s modern sounding pop rock concert sounds nothing like Enter My Chemical anything and if you listen very closely there’s bits of all kinds of things and they, whoever they are, sound like no one you could easily put a bruised index finger on – bits of Killing Joke, touches of neo-prog stitching things together, atmospheres, toes dipped in different musical waters.... Good ideas, no modest dreams to shatter here, well worth checking out and keeping a spare eye on – www.binewski.com
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And this is what they said over at Ballardian... "“Goodbye, Jim… As publisher of this site, my goal has always been to take J.G. Ballard as a philosopher, rather than simply a ‘novelist’. Sometimes this has truly angered fans and champions of his work, more often it has brought me into brilliant and inspiring contact with writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and theorists who all see the world through that same Ballardian lens — and with Jim Ballard himself who, along with his partner Claire Walsh, always remained supportive of the site. Ballard articulates clearly to me the implications of living in an age of total consumerism, of blanket surveillance, of enslavement designed as mass entertainment. But he also speaks to me of resistance through irony, immersion, ambivalence, imagination — of remixing, recycling, remaking, remodelling. Ballard embraces dystopian scenarios, including the archetypal non-space often characterised as a deadening feature of late capitalism. But this is not simply a call for nihilism. Ballard’s characters are not disengaged from their world. Rather, they embody a sense of resistance that derives from full immersion, a therapeutic confrontation with the powers of darkness, whereby merging with dystopian alienation negates its power. This is predicated on concurrency: Ballard’s writing turns objectivity into subjectivity, opens up gaps where there is room for new subjects. His scenarios are what I term ‘affirmative dystopias’, neither straight utopia nor straight dystopia, but an occupant of the interstitial space between them, perpetual oscillation between the poles – the ‘yes or no of the borderzone’, to use a phrase from his work. Here, dystopia becomes the real utopia, and utopian ideals, typically represented as a stifling of the imagination, the true dystopia. He reinhabits the frame to present a clearinghouse in which corporate and national governance is overthrown and regoverned as a ’state of mind’. To read and to understand Ballard, then, is to be gloriously, finally liberated. To James Graham Ballard: thank you". 

And here at Organ we say thank you as well, thank you JG. Ballard... The Ballardian said all we need to... 
 

THE HAPPY LIST: Resonance104.4fm’s Ed Baxter featured in yesterday’s Independent on Sunday’s “Happy List,” along with 99 others including Sir David Attenborough, Lauren Child, Madhur Jaffrey, Grayson Perry, Thomas the Tank Engine, Louise Wilson and occasional Resonance broadcaster Josie Long. The full list of “100 people who make Britain a better and a happier place to live” is here. 

THE MAURICE EINHARDT NEU GALLERY presents “ASSEMBLAGE”: William Blanchard started his career as a musician with his first band Bruce Wayne and the Batniks (1982-89), a time in which he had a rock and roll epiphany (involving sex and drugs), in which 'God' gave him the name 'Wildcat', which he has used as an artist and musician ever since. 

Wildcat Will has taken inspiration for this exhibition from Joseph Cornell (1903-72) who  created 'poetry from the commonplace' especially with his boxed assemblages created from found objects, and the west coast artist Wallace Berman (1926-76) with reference to the privately made and published issues of 'SEMINA'. This is his first solo show in London for 5 years. The show runs from Friday 24th April to Wednesday 6th May 2009 at THE MAURICE EINHARDT NEU GALLERY 30A Redchurch Street, London E2, more from the Neu website - www.neugalleries.com
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NEWS: MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S Kevin Shields has spoken to the Dallas Observer about his plans for the future of the band, who are currently on tour in the US following their decision to reform in 2007. Speaking about what's on the cards when the tour ends, Shields said: "After the end of August, we'll have a radical change... line-up, we might expand a bit. In that respect, we'll add another member to the group, just to do more stuff. And sound-wise, absolutely. You know, it'll be...taking a different approach".

Shields also spoke about the possibility of the band's completing their latest album, which was begun, pre-reunion, and Chinese-Democracy-stylee, back in 1993. The group did not manage to get it finished during studio sessions earlier this year, but they are planning to have another go this summer, and may road test the tracks on their remaining tour dates. He added that the band are really enjoying the tour, saying: "The great thing is playing together, we're just doing it the way we were planning to do it at the time, except with the right equipment and the right sounds". (CMU)

NEWS: MORRISSEY walked off stage part way through his performance at Coachella at the weekend, because the smell of barbecued meat invaded his nostrils. The vegetarian former Smiths man stopped half way through a song, and told the audience, "I can smell burning flesh and I hope to God it's human", before making his way off stage.  He returned after a few minutes to continue his performance, explaining: "The smell of burning animals is making me sick. I just couldn't bear it".
 

"It has all been consumed, traded, downloaded, understood, heard before, sampled, learned, revived, judged and..." 

Are the answers there in that red book? 17? Bill Drumond? Peter Prendergast? Ninety percent of it really is about looking? Does anyone know how to contact and switch the other any more? A little more than just putting up a My Space page up if you know what I mean...  Up to you how you use these pages...

Speak, Shape, Create, Time.. time for things to evolve once more, 299 editions of Organ magazine, some on paper, some weekly on line, some handmade and spray painted, some plush and glossy, explore the old on line edtions and a whole bag of old Organs and history here, we're moving on again, kick over the bricks. Marinated in something or other. Reasons to be cheerful? You never know, until you get on that train... deer, parrot, a bench that points at Runnymead, Reasons To Be Cheerful... All recorded music run it's course? 17? Things from the black bag of time and did you really think we’d stop at 300? Time to evolve. Has the My Space attitide finally killed music? No surely not? Still pockets of goodness, Skingraft Records, Rune Grammofon, oh yes, still pockets of real thought, real creativity, inspiration, Organ fuel - Jono El Grande and that Neo Dada album...
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OBSERVER GIVE AWAY DAMIEN HIRST'S HOURS ARTWORK - The Observer Music Monthly is giving away the original Damien Hirst painting created for the front cover of The Hours' second album, 'See The Light', to coincide with a special issue of the magazine starring the artist and the band on 19 Apr. You can register to win one of 20 prints of the artwork at www.guardiansolutions.co.uk/hirstcomp, which will also get you an exclusive download of the track, 'These Days'. Details of how to win the original artwork (valued at £125,000) will be revealed in the Observer Music Monthly on Sunday - that's today, or yesterday if you're reading theis tomorrow).

RANDY CAIN, one of the founding members of The Delfonics, has died at his home in Maple Shade, New Jersey, at the age of 63. The cause of death hasn't been confirmed by the local medical examiner's office.  Cain founded The absolutely wobderfully soulful Delfonics with William and Wilbert Hart whilst all three were attending Overbrook High School in Philadelphia during the sixties.. The band's first LP met with immediate success, spawning smash hit single 'La La (Means I Love You)', and in 1970 they won a grammy for their track 'Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time'. Cain left the group in 1971, and was instrumental in the formation of another group, Blue Magic. Meanwhile, The Delfonics were splintering into different groups, many performing as The Delfonics, and Cain returned to one of those in 1980.  Former bandmate Wilbert Hart told The Philadelphia Daily News that he last saw Cain four or five months ago, adding: "I'm gonna miss him. We grew up together since 1968". That first album is the one that matters though... you know it, you’ve seen Tarantino’s finest film Jackie Brown... 

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Explore the old on line edtions and a whole bag of old Organs and 23 years of Organ history here, we're moving on again, kick over the bricks once more....