I caught a bit of BBC Three coverage of Reading and Leeds over the weekend: I was up in the early hours trying to get the boy back to sleep, which is probably why I just typed Kedds (as in Senseless Things) instead of Leeds. High point was seeing The Enemy, and Cajun Dance Party were pretty good too, if a little too affected. - Why did it work for Morrissey but looks so lame on anyone else? - Low point was Feeder: I really don't get why this run of the mill rock band are still around when so many better ones have fallen by the wayside. There were lots of young kids doing bull horn signs without being ironic, so I guess somewhere there lies the answer.
I shouldn't like Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' but somehow I do. And I think it would mix well into Sam Sparrow's 'Black and Gold'. I finally got around to watching Duncan's Jack Smith DVD. Maybe I'll even get to see the Rear Window DVD I got from the library the other week.
Still thinking about festivals, the End of the Road festival in North Dorset sounds good - limited to 5000 tickets and featuring the likes of Mercury Rev, Calexico, Tindersticks, Low, British Sea Power (UK budget Arcade Fire, but still worth seeing), American Music Clu, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Billy Childish, Akron/Family, Laura Marling and numerous others alongside trade stalls, cinema, comedy, kids and family stuff etc etc
12 - 14 Sept www.endoftheroadfestival.com
Sat 1 - Sun 9 Sept is KLANG: a tribute to the late Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Southbank. Also there (11 Oct) is a tribute to Nico - artists TBC - and Julian Cope (18 Nov) supporting his new album 'Black Sheep'. 24 Oct is Video Games Live at the Southbank: live orchestra and musicians perform with interactive game play and state of the art graphics. And on 24 Sept Dr Ben Goldacre, from the Guardian's Bad Science column will be speaking.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Mr Teeth mentioned Tilly and the Wall before, and they're playing ULU on Sat 25 Oct. www.tillyandthewall.com
Coming up at the Barbican this autumn are New York No Wavers Liquid Liquid plus some others from Domino Records (4 Oct). Domino are celebrating their crystal anniversary (15 years) and are putting on this event along with Tricky (6 Oct) and Juana Molina + Max Tundra (5 Oct at the LSO St Luke's).
www.barbican.org.uk www.dominorecordco.com
Juana Molina is also playing Bush Hall on 28 Oct www.juanamolina.com
the Whitechapel have a open screening night for film-makers on 4 Sept, and the following night is It's About Time: a music night featuring acts 'with a fresh take on rhythm'. www.whitechapel.org
Simon Bookish's long awaited album is due to be released on Tomlab on the 7th of October. Called 'Everything/Everything', it's a departure from his earlier glitchy electro work, employing his impressive compositional skills into a big band song cycle which takes in 'everything' from minimalism to disco, ambient and cabaret. He's also one of the best lyricists around in my opinion, so I shall look forward to that one coming out. www.simonbookish.com
Also on Tomlab is Why? (Yoni Wolf from Anticon/Cloudead) and he's touring Europe: mainly Germany and France, but just one date in Dublin (1 Nov). http://www.anticon.com/index.php?section=artist&target=Why&js=yes
See some exclusive drawings by Daniel Johnston at The Wire website. Also download some great noise/avant garde performances from Fag Tapes.
www.thewire.co.uk
Next Friday (5 Sept) is Late at Tate Britain, curated by Martin Creed whose current piece has people jogging through the Duveen galleries. On the night there will be live music and short films. http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eventseducation/lateattatebritain/lateattatebritainseptember2008.htm
next week an exhibition of the work of Udomsak Krisanamis opens at the Victoria Miro gallery and runs until 27 Sept. PV next Tues 6-8pm. The work is a mixture of densely layered collagey-paintings, some film installations and large sculptures, arranged in three zones. www.victoria-miro.com
