13th May '09: Morning people, up with the skylarks? Armed with Montana Gold? Corn Warblers? Shearwaters? Black rope in place? Let's throw something on, big pile of discs waiting here and oh hell, another emo band and, “save us from the ordinary” sings the whining voice over the same old emo pop-punk riff by numbers and save us from the same old ordinary indeed?  Hang on, we got one of those screamo beano meano bands here now, different disc, different set of same again clichés and what is the point in new bands just sounding like their current record collection...  Off to Honest Jon’s second hand record emporium for the lot of them, Montana Gold is more than five pounds a hit these days y’know, tin of raspberry needed today .. How were Shearwater last night anyway? 

ALBUM REVIEW:  A HAWK AND A HACKSAW – Delivrance (Leaf Label) – In which the duo, James Barnes (vocals, accordion, Drums) and partner Heather Trost (violin), take us globe-trotting with their Hungarian dances and their Greek sounding swirls and their European folk and their good to be alive Eastern energy.. . Actually it is a celebration of Hungarian folk music, and all very authentic and full of life and glowing with trumpets and music learnt about and from and with... Vivid, intense, full of life Eastern European folk music – www.myspace.com/ahawkandahacksaw or www.theleaflabel.com

We see LATCH are threatening to reform, good, there's unfinished business there for sure, hope that idea isn't way way past the sell by date though? Seems they're all still alive, who'd have thought it.. back there, on their good days, they were a band that really did cut it on stage, a band who could have been a little different, that was the last century though wasn't it...?

SINGLE REVIEW: RANCID - Last One To Die (Epitaph) - New Rancid single in the post this morning, fast track that one through the stacks to the top of the pile and let the dominoes fall, always up for a bite of Clash with my morning coffee... alright, cheap shot that, and no i didn’t give up coffee, i did try, clears the Montana Gold from the throat you know... Rancid, you got to love Rancid, yeah, so they still sound like a Clash tribute band, so what? Someone’s got to do it right.. Going up, going down, still around, last band to die... All the economic meltdown and the unions going down and no ships docking and the car plant closed down and all blue collar defiance is all here – come on, an all American Clash and another damn record than no one damn well needs but you do really, we need at least one Clash still standing with a defiant fist on the docks with the car workers while the fat cats screw it all and the Tories have their moats cleaned and the millionaire Ordinary Dave Camaron lectures us about morals.  Yeah, so this is standard issue, middle-aged, still around, sleeves rolled up Rancid, so what's wrong with that? This is adamant and alive, timely return and doing it just like you want it to say on the tin, we need Rancid, we need new Rancid records...  You got it right, you got it wrong, we’re still around, last ones to die.... www.rancidrancid.com  The single is out May 25th, the album, Let The Dominoes Fall, first studio albums for six years - is it really that long? - is out on June 1st in the UK. one of the five percent we do need..  . 

ALBUM REVIEW: MOSS – Tombs Of The Blind Drugged (Rise Above) – All the way from Southampton in their own sweet time... That’s super slugged out slower than slow stoner churning and slow moving deep-end down-tuned growling dooming stoner sludge going extra slow and taking days to get anywhere time to you and me. Who knows what growling singer is on about? Something deeply dark and evilly scarey and demonic? Or maybe he’s considering which brand of washing up liquid is best? Favourite colour Smartie? Gates of purgatory? Who knows...  This is super slow take an hour to get anywhere monolithic alchemically distilled sludge metal and perpetual drones and all well and good if you haven’t got this album already. All powerful slow moving sludge and giant riffs and taking more time than a month of Sabbaths... Thing is, so many have already done exactly this already haven’t they?  Old. Sleep, surely there’s a million albums just like this already? Moss do it well, I’m sure there’s a point to it somewhere, now if only they’d push it somewhere new, somewhere we haven’t been far too many times already. Is there really much point in ninety five percent of the records that are released being released? Four slices of well played long-arse slowmo stoner drone should you want it, worth a review, they do it well, but hey...     www.myspace.com/cthonicrites or www.riseaboverecords.com
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Bemused passenger in the car crash that is proper audited expenses? Need it for the moat cleaning on the second home don’t we. On the take again? However bad it may be just now, never forget how much worse it was under that other lot, Ordinary Dave’s lot, him from Eton, son of the milk snatcher.. Throwing discs at the player, most of them really aren't impressing us enough to make us take to this here keyboard and stick up one of those reviews with the signpost at the end... 

ALBUM REVIEW: DUNCAN REDMONDS – Bubble And Squeak: Collaborations 2004-2008 (Boss Tuneage) – Whooo, that don’t ‘arf sound like Leatherface! See, we have a policy here of trying to throw things in the CD chewing machine without really looking at what they are, avoid the press release and all the hype and the preconceived ideas. Little close to the Leatherface sound this Bubble And Squeak lot! who are they?  Sound very Snuff now... Hang on, hang on, it is the voice of Sir Frankie of Stubbs on that first track and it is all Snuffed up and there was no vulture tapping anyone’s brain. Bubble And Squeak isn’t the name of the band, more the tittle of a rather good Duncan Redmonds solo album – yes, he of Snuff (and Billy No Mates and Guns ‘n Wankers and...), and, well not really a solo album, more a collection of collaborations all pulled together on one album. Duncan and a load of faces, the hoi polloi of UK punk, and a who’s who of collaborators from the Leatherface, Southport, Snuff family as well at people from further afield - No Means No, Fat Mike from Nofx and such... What you have is Duncan and various lines-up/collaborations, performing twenty tracks and a whole lot of different shades, degrees of and takes on that Snuff style melodic soul-fuelled rough-edged punkpop thing. And as we’ve said numerous times on these pages, Snuff pretty much wrote the book when it comes to the tuneful pop punk thing, they did it first and they’ve always done it best. So you’ve got a whole bag load of that melodic punk pop, touches of that Snuff soul, Frankie Leatherface singing on some of it, then you’ve got the oi’d up London street punk and bites of aggro from Hard Skin (and in the middle of it a Bob Dylan cover from one of the Billy No Mates line ups...). All of it good, a whole load of healthy tuneful, shouty streetwise punk rock. A more than decent compilation of bands/line ups all featuring Duncan Snuff and if you’re in to your proper real deal song-based punk than this is as recommended as anything and everything Snuff related is. Excellent album, no filler, all good – www.bosstuneage.com

11th May '09: STOP PRESS, today's rhythm has been upset, MARNIE STERN's  LONDON SHOW TONIGHT CANCELLED: A statement on the Upset The Rhythm website just says this, good job we looked really, ignore all we said on the radio last night, that's thrown a spannnnner in the works and to think we offloaded those Jesus Lizzzzzard briefs thinking we were going to be elsewhere  – “We're sorry to announce that Monday's show for Marnie Stern and Blue Lions has been cancelled due to a change in Marnie's tour itinerary. We will be confirming a rescheduled date in July over the next day or two, so anyone with WeGotTickets tickets will be given the option of transferring them or getting a refund shortly. We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.” - www.upsettherhythm.co.uk
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Sunday, radiohead day again, back after a week off this evening, Organ on London's finest radio station, Resonance FM. This week we have THE OTHER ROCK SHOW with Marina and her further exploration of other rock, rock music beyond the convention of mere 4/4. That's an hour of music that explores unconventional time signatures, bits of prog and math rock, post rock, whatever you want to call it... other rock. All haapening on Resonance 104.4FM, you can hear it on proper FM radio in London or worldwide on line via www.resonancefm.com, 9.00pm. 

GIG PREVIEW: MARNIE STERN is in London town this Monday (11th May) BLUE LIONS are also on the bill. This is good  Happens at The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, London, N1. 

MARNIE STERN can shred. She's a better guitar player than you, or us, or probably 99% of the people who have ever looked at a guitar. There. That's done. Marnie came out of nowhere, or the Upper East Side of Manhattan to be exact. She didn't listen to "good" music (her words) until she was 23. The first thing she heard that made her head spin was Sleater-Kinney, followed a few years later by Hella, Boredoms, Melt Banana and Deerhoof. A Don Caballero video introduced her to the finger-tapping technique she now uses expertly, having played guitar for "at least" three hours a day ever since, because she feels guilty when she doesn't. Marnie is one of the rare artists who was signed to Kill Rock Stars after sending in a demo tape, recording her debut album 'In Advance of the Broken Arm' with production and drum work by Hella's Zach Hill. Her songs are of the earth, birthed in an organic process and with a staggering number of layers of guitar, drums, synth and echoing vocal. While her first full-length had the focus of a bullet train from New York to Boston, Stern's recent second LP the endlessly-titled 'This Is It' is a pop record for an alternate dimension, where hooks and choruses are sent careening through a cracked kaleidoscope. That includes everything from the chirping chorus line of "Ruler" to the luscious riff-raking leads of "Crippled Jazzer". oh and check out her Journey cover  - www.myspace.com/marniestern1

BLUE LIONS is a project created by Myles Broscoe, a guitarist and composer from Montreal. He has had a bit of a schizophrenic career in music, but this is an attempt to distill his past experiences and influences into a coherent whole. This is also his debut as a singer. Myles performs with naïve clarinet, guitars, synths and electronics. The music draws heavily from the music of West Africa and Albert Ayler, as well as his own experience as a guitarist in Montreal groups Les Angles Morts, AIDS Wolf and The Arcade Fire. This thing is in its infancy. A 7" split with friends and compatriots Black Feelings will be released this spring, with a full length to follow in the next year. - www.myspace.com/milobrosco

Aine Scannell formerly of Ealing, west London has moved and re settled in Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland.  She has recently set up a website where her printmaking based works can be seen.  She works in a variety of mediums and also likes to combine traditional techniques such as intaglio based processes such as etching and collagraph  with inkjet printmaking.  Along with her installations, Aine has created an archive containing details of international exchanges and collaborations with which she has been involved. www.ainescannell.org.uk

DEMO REVIEW: THE SLOW BLADE - Electronic darkwave indie rock from a London based band who mix up a healthy Franz Ferdinand thing with poppy a Depeche Mode feel - www.myspace.com/slowblademusic
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Seems they'll be back... "Hi, I really appreciate you writing such a glowing review on my songs from Carlis Star. I will return! That's a promise. Simon"

DEMO REVIEW: THE GREEN RIVER PROJECT – Pure undiluted proper British heavy metal, one for those who like it on the Maiden side of life, all those busy onslaughts of classical metal guitar, galloping runs, dead men walking and full on no messing bits of things like Accept, Tygers of Pan Tang, Dio, Y&T and those neighing bits of screaming guitar at the end of the riff. We’re talking fists in the air, aces high, no return.... Now you’re either going to love this or absolutely hate it, there is no middle ground here. And hell of toast, does this no messing London outfit have a bursting set of great big egos or what? Especially guitarist Mick... Here’s what he says on his personal My Space page “Hey hey I'm Mick Priestley and I'm guitarist for The Green River Project. There are some things you should know about me..  a) I'm cooler than you are.. b) I get more girls than you do... c) I play guitar better than you do and... d) My band's better than yours!” – and you know what, when it comes to full on mine's bigger than yours heavy metal - not thrash, or glam or metalcore or death or technical wankothon prog metal or any of those side issues – when it comes to no messing pure all the way up to eleven no return heavy metal and bad attitude and everything louder and faster and bigger than everything else them Mick just might be right! Ego inflated f***er certainly can play and his band have it nailed down well and good! Of course if you’re in the camp that thinks metal to be a Tapped up pile of ego infested same old riffs and pretty much a pile of nothing but pantomime horse-poop and Bad News then Mick and his band probably back all that up as well - the evidence is all here m’lud, case is rested, preposterous heavy metal nonsense..! Guess if you’re in that second camp they couldn’t give a flying V what you think of their band. Want to know what I think? No? Tuff, I’m telling yer anyway, I’m a metalhead, I think most metal sucks, this is proper no messing undiluted in your face proper metal... everyone else around here thinks this sucks, and of course there isn’t an original move or note or lyric line anywhere near these five tracks and  I love it and I got the keyboard and I’m writing the review. They’ve even got the balls to out Kat the Great Kat with their version of The Flight Of The Bumblebee, they back up all their claims and their great big egos, this is everything you want from yer ‘eavy bleedin’ metal... preposterously good and proper! - www.myspace.com/greenriverproject08
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DEMO REVIEW: PINK NARCISSUS – New band (from Brighton) and some fresh recordings from Oliver Spleen, he of the rather explosive (and now no more) Flesh Happening. Less of your Buzzcocks style and those in your face ejections this time around, little more fragile and all thunder clouds and sealed emotions this time - darker edge, less obvious, less of a confrontation. And everybody lies, everyone but you. More of a perverted edge to those riffs, still those sticky lyrics and the baiting and Ma look at me, I’m on the top shelf now. More of a twisted post punk thing this time around. Less jumping on your toes singing right at you this time, coming at you in a less obvious way, leading you in to their dark corner, their black burning dark corner - a different kind of happy ending and Oliver still there with his broken wings and high heel hope and that frantic fragile style of his... Still bits of Manics and Buzzcocks and Magazine and Smiths, far less obvious now though and still there in all in his very own tormented cut your losses and take shelter kind of way - and you wouldn’t really expect anything less, A new band every bit as good as his old band. Still raw, still early days, this is very a raw demo recording from a band with a fragile edge of their own, a personality ready to blossom, a promise of things to come – www.myspace.com/pinknarcissusband

DEMO REVIEW: WRAPPED IN PLASTIC – Vibrant rich silky alternative darkwave pop with an electronic edge and a healthy touch of Curve/Nine Inch Nails/Jesus & Mary Chain to gently propel it all along. Girl-voiced lushness, exquisite warmth, seductive dark wave electro pop and rising tempratures from the London based three piece. Bett Rettig on vocals, Debbie Smith (ex Curve/Echobelly) on guitar, Kendra Frost on bass. www.myspace.com/wrappedinplasticuk – they play The Water Rats here in London on May 11th 

DEMO REVIEW: CARLIS STAR – Breezy sunny feel-good alternative harmonised Beach Boysish summer pop from Manchester. Follow up to last year’s debut single, sounds like they have things ready for the next step, this sounds likes a rather fine ready to go summer EP to us - especially that second track To Name A Few, actually no, Been & Gone is best, Been & Gone is a beautifully sublime piece of intelligent harmonised restrained gliding pop goodness. Actually all these songs are great, The Goodwill Robot is favourite now... all four tracks are fine, four glowing slices of everbrightness, clever simplicity, impressive uncluttered harmonised goodness. www.myspace.com/carlisstar or www.carlisstar.com. Carlis Star play the Hungry Pigeon Festival in Manchester on May 23rd  - No, Been & Gone really is best of four fine tracks , Been & Gone is a perfect piece of glowing pop, something rather special... 

Stop press: Hang on, what’s going on here? They send a demo in last week, we write a review, stick it up on line, check the link and then see they’ve already split! What’s going on there Carlis Star!? Reform! 

NEWS: DEERHOOF ANNOUNCE DATES IN IRELAND: Friday July 10th, Whelan's, Dublin, Saturday July 11th - Roisin Dubh, Galway, Sunday July 12th - The Pavilion, Cork... now that would be a great summer roadtrip...

DEMO REVIEW: HYPER SNYPER – They sound like a riffed-up Happy Mondays, actually those riffs aren’t a million miles away from Stone Roses riffs really. Two raw tracks, demo quality early moves, they’re from the East Midlands, they sound more like mid 90’s Madchester. Crispy Ambulance chancers and that Monday’s groove, they claim to be a bunch of brickies and sparkies... Crunchy synths and guitar riffs, laddish Primal Screams, plenty of energy, groove, that singer certainly sounds like he’s from the North West, kind of like 'em... www.myspace.com/hypersnyper1
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Morning, lovely Saturday, new TORTOISE track here, they never really lit these ears up much, hey, you might want it, sounds a little Zombi-ish, sounds like a prog band who aren’t really brave enough to be that prog and like it all a little too straight ahead and safe and hey, you might want a slice and the sun is out, go download it if you want, all part of the service

        No idea when that that issue of Organ just down there came out, issue 25? Somewhere in the early 90’s, back in the days of Poisoned Electrick Head, Creaming Jesus, New England and Crowforce... Someone’s put a whole load of old Organs on ebay, “the UK indie rock bible” it says, don’t know about that, haven’t seen any those old issues for ages though, we spray painted every copy by hand back then, thousands of ‘em... Poisoned Electrick Head were always ‘eventful’, put them on once (put them on loads of times actually), this particular time was down in Camden at the much missed original Monarch somewhere around '92. The Fly was once the Monarch, only a downstairs venue back then, excellent it was, we did gigs weekly there, brilliant place ... And those ‘lecky ‘eads were always ones for causing some kind of stir at a gig. It was never straight forward with them Heads. Gang of Scouse crustpunk chancers with more than a healthy slice or two of Devo about them. So there’s about eight of ‘em and they’re headlining an Organ night on a Monday at the Monarch and they’ve caused some major scuffle down in the Lock Tavern. We have no idea what they did, we were busy with the support bands and the gig when whatever it was kicked off this time... Whatever they did, they did enough to have a van load of rather pissed-off Police come racing along with their blue lights blazing and pushing everyone about... We’re on the door and everyone is blagging in, we never did make much money at those shows, breaking even and having the place full was enough, no one ever paid full price! So we’re on the door and the Police are more than annoyed, armed with batons and who knows what those Electrick Heads have done this time? So about ten of ‘em barge in, just as the Old Bill did back then, mob-handed coppers in a bad mood out to crack some heads. “We know they came in here, punky squatter types with dreadlocks, we have several people who say they saw them, gang of mouthy Scousers, you must have seen ‘em, we know they’re in here somewhere...” and they’re searching the venue, hassling everyone, randomly searching people, questioning everyone in an aggressive way, trying to catch some Scouse accents out, going through the toilets, in to the pub cellar, pulling the place apart looking for them and getting more and more annoyed with every minute... And there all the time watching all this going on are those Electric Heads, all up on stage playing away in those giant Geiger masks and costumes of theirs, all Out Of Order and dealing with the Dead Fly... You can see half a dozen sets of eyes behind their big masks following the police around the venue and never ever missing a note...  Never once did Officer Plod work it out, never once did they work out that the seven or eight people they were desperately looking for were might just be the very same seven or eight up on stage in the big masks with the fizzing synths and the jagged new wave post-punk awkwardness that they never managed to nail down in a recorded state... Great demos, flat albums, some excellent bootlegs on our shelves here though... Enough of old Organs, them police hung around for ages, so the Electrick Heads played on for ages, plod never did suss it out, and how everyone else kept straight faces... enough of that, pile of demo discs waiting here... back on the radio after a weekend off this Sunday.... 
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BARACK OBAMA DILDO? Blue Dildo or Gold Dildo? Yes, it's Barack Obama in dildo form! Is this a tribute or a dis? Guess it depends on your point of view, but (according to the Bat) here's some hints: The tag line on the dildo's box is "You Love Your Candidate, Let Him Love You Back!" and "I Want A Big O!" 7 1/2" long, about 2" wide, made in San Francisco & ready to use, no batteries required. Made In The U.S.A. & Brand New! If you're over 18, click below for details. Democratic Blue Obama Dildo - $30.00... Presidential Gold Obama Dildo - $30.00. Yes you can, got to love the Bat's style... 

ALBUM REVIEW: THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO – Futuro (Rune Grammofon) – They’re from Norway, they’re on Rune Grammofon so you know they’re going to be worth an ear right?  One of those labels always worth keeping an eye on... Skingraft, Cuneiform, Rune Grammofon, still a few labels out there...  All kinds of layers here, an ever shifting line that moves somewhere near a psych rock, prog-garage, lo-fi-post-rock groove-trip beast. Slices of Eastern-tinged pop, touches of Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Can, Doors, Hawkwind, Joy Division, all with an edge of their own... Long way on from the instrumental post-rock band of past times now, couple of vocalist adding male/female lead vocals and taking them through different windows. 60’s/70’s flavours, constantly moving forward (or maybe backwards). This sounds fresh... some of it dark, some of it breezy, some of it blowing in the winds... www.lowfrequencyinstereo.com or www.runegrammofon.com
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NEWS: Organ favourites EXPERIMENTAL DENTAL SCHOOL are in town this weekend, they’re in the UK right now on tour. They’re playing London with BLACK DICE tomorrow with ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB and DUCKTAILS both performing as well. It all happens at The Dome, opposite Tufnell Park Tube Station. Ten bags of sand to get in this time, advance price this time...  Scroll down this very page and read about the Dental School and indeed grab their latest album for nothing... Upset The Rhythm are putting the show on...

NEWS: Friday, Friday, today's instructions are in place and The Low Frequency are making the sun shine, careful step are being taken and ZAG AND THE COLOURED BEADS have a couple of shows coming up, this very Saturday, May 9th, you can catch them and their green painted prog flavoured otherness at The Brief, George Street, Croydon, where they play with the Scaramanga Six. Four bags of sand on the door so it seems, The Beads are always worth your time, four bags of sand is a fair price to pay, the Display Team are on the bill as well. Meanwhile the latest Sacaramanga Six album, Prey, is reviewed on the previous Organ page should you feel like seeing what we have to say about that...  and then May 23rd at the faded splendour that is the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London, where they line up next to Silvery, who in turn seem to be in Moscow this weekend.. and bring me flowing pens and Keats and golden things like Kenickie woman keeps saying on the TV, or some bubble bath, anything really. Lemon with your tea? What with poetry being this week's new black and everything...
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Now there a lot of time wasting spam on My Space, dumb bands clogging up the day with “hey dude vote for us and thanks for your support and for being a fan” when you have no clue who the hell they are, that and stupid “models” wanting attention and depressing the hell out of you as they suck the will to surf away. Once in a while though someone says hello and you click on their page and hey, this is good! 

AARON KRATEN is a painter, I guess you’d call it pop art – well pop art in that post-computer, back to the tactile media, just get out there on the street and do it kind of way. He’s from Costa Mesa, California, he paints on wood, he paints with mixed media on wood, he paints on skateboards, on old unwanted Volkswagen doors - comic book imagery, graffiti, the enjoyment of paint and the exploration of marks - a distinctive style and hey, you don’t need our words, there’s one of his pieces right there, here’s the links, go explore, he’s good... www.myspace.com/aaronkraten or www.aaronkratenart.com

SINGLE REVIEW:  WHILE SHE SLEEPS / AND WHITE STARS – Split single (James) – Split single and a couple of brutal Yorkshire bands on a Yorkshire based label. Pretty much standard issue modern brutal metal screamo beano brutal throat riffing huff ‘n puff from both bands. Two brutal tracks each, all carried out at Slayer style ramming speed and cram as many riffs and runs in as they can... And White Stars add a touch of a hardcore edge to their two slices of metal brutality. Nothing that different to a million brutal things you’ve heard already, both bands do their brutal thing brutally well though and out of little acorns great big brutal trees grow. Two decent bands getting out and doing it themselves with the help of a DIY label and a guy who may or may not be called James, they're all doing it the right way, rather decent early moves. Brutal  – www.myspace.com/whileshesleeps or  www.myspace.com/andwhitestars or www.myspace.com/jamesrecordsuk
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SEVEN INCH GETS RECORD PRICE AT AUCTION - A rare signed seven inch copy of Frank Wilson's unreleased (and rather fine) 1965 Motown single 'Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)' was sold for a record price of £25,742 when it went up for auction. DJ and record collector Kenny Burrell from Fife bought the record, one of only two remaining copies in the world, for the then record breaking price of £15,000 in 1997. He then met Frank Wilson, who is best known for writing hits for The Supremes and The Four Tops, eight years ago and got him to sign it. It was sold to an anonymous bidder, who had placed and advance bid of £25,500, seeing off most of the 70 other bidders at the outset. Spare a though here for the guy who had a third copy and who accidentally left it too close to a ring on his cooker. 

6th May '09: NEWS:FAITH NO MORE have announced a London show at Brixton Academy on 10 Jun, ahead of their Download appearance on 12 Jun. Tickets go on general sale on Friday, no idea how much a ticket will set you back, an arm and a leg no doubt. We care a lot... 
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Who are Radio Moscow? Well they’re not that Diamond Head offshoot band called Radio Moscow... no no no, this Radio Moscow are a right there in the zone oldschool Hendrix style acid drenched real deal blues band from Ames, Iowa. They have a second album called Brian Cycles on the way on Alive Records (out in the UK officially on July 27th but hey, in these days of on-line selling and such I'm sure you can get a copy right now, hang on, let me look... nope, not on the mail order lists of their UK distributor Cargo Records yet). They’re here this week though, and we’ve got the album already so we’ll cut to the chase and tell you this second album is Radio Moscow really coming alive. If their 2007 self titled debut lacked that spark, then they more than made up for it here with Brain Cycles. This second album is right there in that spot that bands like Groundhogs or Cream took you to, those acid drenched stoner blues of Hendrix, Ten Years After or early Fleetwood Mac. No musical revolution going down here then, no, just righteous real deal old school psychedelic blue rock - sometimes, when things are done this well then that’s more than enough, revolutions aren't always needed. Find out more via  www.myspace.com/radiomoscow or their US label (and home of Bomp) where you'll find some taste free download samplers and a whole load of interesting old school garage blues psyche bands  -  www.alive-totalenergy.com

5th May '09: NEWS: OUT OF STEP are putting on a benefit for HOUSMANS RADICAL BOOK SHOP:  A night of the best politically charged music and poetry from London collection Out of Step, featuring political punk-poetry from Captain of the Rant, country tinged acoustic loveliness from Kelly Kemp, angry acoustic punk-rock by Torn Out, awesome words and rhymes from Dave Pepper, plus punktry tunes by L Morgan. 
"The epitome of DIY and underground music" - Neil Sutherland, "Out Of Step keep putting on wicked free and dirt-cheap gigs" – Last Hours fanzine. 
        The event happens on Saturday 9th May – 6-9pm, Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Rd, King's Cross, London N1 Free entry. Nearest tube: King's Cross. I guess they’re going to pass the hat in terms of the benefit... Find out about Housmans at www.housmans.com. For more information about Out of Step please visit www.myspace.com/outofstepmusicnight
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NEWS: A CELEBRATION OF NICK DRAKE’S MUSIC will take place this coming Saturday, May 9th, 6pm – 11pm at The Cockpit Theatre, London NW8. The bill will feature JACK SAVORETTI , MY LUMINARIES, STUART ANTHONY & HARVEY LORD, GABBY YOUNG & STEPHEN ELLIS (REVERE), JAMES EDGE, HELENA C CARTA , STUART MASTERS + VERY SPECIAL GUESTS. For further information, visit www.myspace.com/nickdrakelondontribute

NEWS: METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, the source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Wednesday, May 6th, with as many as 85 meteors per hour over the southern hemisphere. Rates in the northern hemisphere will be less, 20 to 30 per hour. The best time to look is during the dark hour before local sunrise on Wednesday morning.  Visit www.spaceweather.com for sky maps and details.
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ALBUM REVIEW: CASTROVALVA – Castrovalva (Brew) – Eight slices of instrumental rock-based noise, fuzz and rolling rumbling feedback... well seven actually, one of the pieces does have some vocals. Some of it sounds improvised, most of it sounds pretty much live – the feel is raw, blistered, hardboiled. In your face low-end guitar rumbles and clever enough sound-weaving of those dirty rolling riffs and jagged noise. There’s two of ‘em, they’re from Leeds, they’ve got a stoner/noise edge, a Melvins riff or two in there with the blistering energy and the warm fuzzy noise and... www.myspace.com/castrovalva or www.brewrecords.net - The self titled album is released today.
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This Bank Holiday - Monday May 4th – Resonance FM will present a selection of programmes dealing with space, time, place, memory, identity, Beijing, banality, Brecht, Bo Diddley and the gravitational pull of rotating discs. On your FM dial all over London via 104.4FM and worldwide via www.resonancefm.com. 

ALBUM REVIEW: ISIS – Wavering Radiant (Conspiracy) - Now it really isn’t our way to clutter up the pages of Organ with negative reviews, pass by and move on if it does nothing for us is our policy, shout about the good things that excite is and leave the rest alone... sometimes though... Sometimes something really has to be said...  This really is an arse-numbingly boring album. Chin-strokingly tedious is what this is. Had the damn thing on here for hours now (hours and hours and hours...), had it playing for hours trying to strike up some kind of connection with it. Gone back to it again and again over the last few weeks - well so many people go on about them with such reverence don’t they... There must be something here surely? Truth is, the damn thing is boring the crap out of me. It isn’t that they’re being self-indulgent, musical self indulgence is so often a good thing, we’re self-confessed progheads, we celebrate self indulgence, twenty minute epics about lighthouse keepers or cloud formations are fine in our book, bring on the self indulgent prog... No, self indulgence isn’t the problem here, the problem here is just that this is so boringly tediously self indulgent... this is... is... well this is just not that interesting... this is not waveringly radiant. Fact is, Isis are a very very dull band. Sure, they have an occasional moment here or there that hint that they could do so much more if they had the guts to do so, they have brief moments that catch your ear and then back they go to their predicable boring safe pathways and their sub Pink Floyd with bits of metal Porcupine Tree numbness (and that tedious vocal style of theirs...) and I probably could go on even longer than they do but but but... cakes to bake, paint to throw and this really is all the worst self indulgence of the mid 70’s married to the boring aren’t-we-all-so-serious-and-deep chin-stroking pony-tailed musical conservatism of now and not a hint of the cutting edge danger and challenge that real prog can so often be alive with, none of the guts or the balls or...  nah, this is just arse-numbingly boring and sometimes someone does need to point out that the emperor is in fact stark bollock naked.  The new Isis album is released in Europe today – www.conspiracyrecords.com
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ALBUM REVIEW: MAYBESHEWILL – Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony (Field) – This post rock crescendo building instrumental epic thing is all getting rather predictable isn’t it? This second album from Leicester’s Maybeshewill is as good as anything that we’ve heard in terms of instrumental post rock in recent times, but hey, how many times are we going to hear this same thing? Isn’t it all getting to be far too obviously predictable and haven’t we heard this very same album at least a dozen times already?  And yes, it really is unfair to take shots at Maybeshewill, they really are good at this and Sing The Word... is as fine as anything from any of the many Explosions in the Mono bands out there doing this. Maybeshewill don’t have the all the glitch of 65Days, they do have all the blissful hope and the slowly building to the inevitable crescendo and if you feel you need more of all this then yes, go grab Sing The Word.... Maybeshewill are as good at this as anyone... But but but, how many more times are we going to have to listen to the same atmospheric post rock build up with pretty much the same tune leading us quietly to the same generic crescendo? The same guitar sounds and the same route down the same path, the same same same.... Instrumental post rock really should be moving on a little now, surely it should be a little more challenging, surely it should be laced with at least a sense of a genuine musical adventure or two? Surely it should be taking us to new places rather than these same places we’ve visited time and again over the last four or five years? Surely these instrumental post rock bands should be pushing open new doors now, parting different clouds, a little more than sticking to this tried and tested formula? Oh look, it really isn’t fair to shoot all this at Maybeshewill, they’re doing it as well as anyone and if you want more of it then yes, this is a very good album. It really had been done several times too many already now though and oh.... arrghhhh...Here you go, all very nice instrumental post rock with those clever over-long tittles and come on bands, take it somewhere else now please – www.maybeshewill.net or www.field-records.com

ALBUM REVIEW: SIDDHARTHA – Trip To Innerself (Trail) – Serene album from Turkish band Siddhartha, mellow 70’s sounding easy on the ear Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree tranquillity for those who like it that way, they do their thing rather well, all very polite and harmless and here’s a link to their U.S label should you be curious, we'll politely leave it with you - www.trailrecords.net

The only thing that can save us now is some proper big hair metal...

EP REVIEW: HEAVEN’S BASEMENT - Heaven’s Basement EP (Self Release) – Good looking, well packaged, well produced straight to the point six track EP from the young British hard rock band. Melodic glam metal flavoured big riff tuneful metallic hard rock... If you need to think about these things then think something near Airbourne with a touch more melody rather than the Airbourne beer spilling, think that round and round of Ratt, early harder-edged Bon Jovi, hints of Thunder - they got it nailed, they rock, and don’t try tell us you don’t like to think of these things. Old school fist in the air dunb as a stick hard rock goodness, not many doing it this way these days, that’s probably a good thing, this is a good thing too, a guilty pleasure as it were, there still a place for a band like this isn't there?  – www.heavensbasement.com
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2nd May '09: NEWS: END OF THE ROAD - The Camp Bling/Save Priory Park campaigners in Essex have won! After a decade-long campaign, and a protest camp at the site since 2005, the £25 million Priory Crescent road widening scheme in Southend-on-Sea has been cancelled. Camp Bling will ‘decommission’ itself during the summer, the aim being to restore the site back to how the protesters found it.  Despite the best efforts of Southend Tory council leader Nigel Holdcroft, who pursued the road project in the face of almost unanimous local opposition, this week the government announced were only going to fund the £5 million Cuckoo Corner roundabout, leaving the full scheme dead in the water. The camp is still there now, and welcomes visitors. Help will be needed during the summer to take down and restore the site. BLINGTASTIC! - www.campbling.org  (SchNEWS)

NEWS: UPSET THE RHYTHM say: “we have a super special event coming up over the bank holiday so we wanted to give you a maximum heads up. Next Monday at 6pm we have a cappella lady gang LEXIE MOUNTAIN BOYS from Baltimore performing for us in a Medieval tower in Hackney. St Augustine's Tower is rarely open to the public and is an incredible building, combined with a mind-melting LM Boys set this pretty much will be an unforgettable experience. Because the venue is a tower, it's not the largest place in the world so I'd recommend buying tickets beforehand” - www.upsettherhythm.co.uk

 “St Augustine's Tower is Hackney's oldest building, it stands in the historic centre of the ancient village of Hackney and appears on the Borough's coat of arms too. The tower is all that remains of the old church of St Augustine built at the end of the 13th century by the Knights Templar. The space is super atmospheric and awesome (both meanings) and the performance will take place across the four floors of the tower, including the bell room and the roof (if the sun shines!). This will be a truly unique experience and tickets must be bought in advance due to the limited size of the building. After the performance, you will be free to explore the tower on your own terms too”.

LEXIE MOUNTAIN BOYS - LIVE AT SXSW
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Catch some YouTube Mellotron action here

NEWS: NAVVY have a whole load of dates, starting today, May 1st, at Bath Moles and then continuing on May 2nd - London Dance Magic Dance at Old Blue Last, 4th - BirminghamRainbow Club, 5th – Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s, 6th - Glasgow Twisted Wheel, 7th - Manchester Club Powwow at the Retro Bar, 8th - Liverpool Korova, 16th - London, Dirty Bingo vs Loud & Quiet @ The Macbeth, 21st - London Last Days of Decadence, Shoreditch. Read the Organ album review here – “Infectious angular synth driven new wave pop to delight the space between your ears, taking care of your space is what Navvy do. I like it, you like it, we like it... I want some,  you want some, we want some... Real life makes perfect sense, they’ll take you to a special place, they’ll send your flowers back, they’ll give your cheeks some vital colour.  Fractured bouncy angular vintage synth driven new wave pop...” Hear Navvy at myspace.com/navvypop
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NEWS: MUDHONEY will return to London to play a show at Camden's Koko on October 11th (so the ATP team have just told us). Tickets are on sale today and support is TBC. Far tooooooo early to be thinking about gigs in October or indeed that Sonic Youth have been added to the 2009 My Bloody Valentine Nightmare Before Christmas Bill. Far too early to be thinking of all this, if you really must think about it then do it via www.atpfestival.com

NEWS: Swedish indie-pop purists SAD DAY FOR PUPPETS release their rather-awaited debut album 'Unknown Colors' as a CD/download on June 1. The album includes the new download-only single, 'Cherry Blossom' (released on May 18). To coincide with the release, the band play the following UK dates: Brighton - The Parlure Spiegeltent @ The Great Escape - May 16, London - Windmill (with Vivian Girls) - May 17, London - Rough Trade East (instore) - May 18, London - Bardens Boudoir - May 19, Manchester - Irish Centre - May 20, Liverpool - Sound City - May 21, Crewe - Volume Festival - May 22. More from www.soniccathedral.co.uk
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SINGLE REVIEW: MILES BENJAMIN ANTHONY ROBINSON – Buruedfed (Transgressive) – Raggedly good and does he sound a little like a modern Day Bob Dylan? Robinson taking a surreal look at his own funeral with is mumbled vocals (that’s the Dylan bit, that mumble) and his peaceful mellow slowly building up Neil Youngish guitar and a growing crescendo about how he wishes he was dead and he didn’t even get that damn thing right. New York’s best kept secret so it seems and not really anything like Dylan or Young and well worth a moment of your time. The single came out this week in the UK  – www.myspace.com/milesbenjaminanthonyrobinson
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ALBUM REVIEW: BLACKGUARD – Profugus Mortis (Nuclear Blast) -  Is this an abdominal shitstorm of throw in the kitchen sink and hit that tiny little nut with that great big heavy monster of a sledgehammer metal histrionics or is it something so preposterously bombastically over the top that it actually becomes really rather good?  Hundred mile an hour riffs, cod classical guitar runs jousting with relentlessly pomping keyboards, stabs of prog rock and growing yapping throat-ripping vocals. The black metal outfit are from Montreal, Canada, they don’t believe in anything that subtle, no stopping for breath or anything like that, they’ve got death metal’s version of Rick Wakeman on keyboards, hope he’s got a big cloak, Justine’s drums are relentless, those guitars never stop shredding, the whole thing is clearly going to be an never ending ride all the way to the leg of time on the wings of Merlin’s black metal dragon kestrel monster. A preposterously bad/good album – www.myspace.com/blackguard

NEWS: DINOSAUR Jr. are giving away a track from their highly anticipated forthcoming album via their website. 'I Want To Know You' - the album's first single - can be downloaded from www.dinosaurjr.com now. The band's new album, Farm, is due out in June.

EP REVIEW: GRIFTER – The High Unholy Mighty Rollin’ EP (Fury 76) - Righteous old school whiskey snorting stoner boogie rock from the Deep South (of Devon). Five great big molly hatchets of groove and low slung slabs of galloping Kyuss, Orange Goblin style heavy rock. Released on Scruff’s label (he of the wholesome Hellbastard), tales of sweating horses and the devil taking the temperature higher, tastes good if you know what I mean. High unholy mighty goodness indeed -  www.myspace.com/grifterrock or www.fury76.com
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DEMO REVIEW: FREEDOM FACTION – Cambridge girl-fronted no messing old school street punk band. Four of em, three rather large beefy males and a pink haired girl called Rhianna Milton.  Tuneful yet shouty ‘77 style punk rock with a poppy hook or two here and then. Think raw basic no messing Pistols, X-Ray Spex, Vibrators, Vice Squad, Blondie flavoured delivered with straight ahead right on your toes in your face chav-girl baiting style. No messing, proper basic punk, don’t think they’d claim to be doing anything radically different, they're laced with the right attitude, sound like they’d be a blast live  - www.myspace.com/freedomfactionUK
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