Two Door Cinema Club wins Breaking mtvU Woodie

I am so proud of my buds Two Door Cinema Club for winning the Breaking mtvU Woodie. hell, even Friendly Fires didn't manage that 2 years ago.

watch them perform 'What You Know', my favourite song by them, in front of an adoring audience in Austin last night. hells to the yeah.

2011 mtvU Woodie Awards

Mercury Prize disappointment

I've had some more time to think about this whole Mercury Prize nomination thing and have come to the following conclusions:

• Delphic and Two Door Cinema Club were glaring, glaring omissions.
• I also expected Marina and the Diamonds and Jack Penate to receive nominations.
  
• Mumford and Sons OR Laura Marling should have been nominated, not both. as cited by this Clash article, it's a little weird that dating front people should both be in the running.
• Had I the choice to ditch one of the above two folkies, I would have swapped them with Fanfarlo.
  
• the xx being nominated was a given. however, considering how massive they already are, they don't need to win. let's see album #2 first. I can't believe I'm saying this b/c 6 months ago I was a massive supporter of theirs but but I'm actually bored of them now.
  
• Villagers / Conor O'Brien for the win!
  

Come out of the woodwork and comment!

x

the badge is humourous, sue me (vote for FFires for Breakthrough British Act at BRITs)

drummer Jack Savidge (far right) is now threatening the lives of members of JLS he *can* pronounce, so get voting by clicking on the button below. voting ends 2 PM Eastern time Friday.

BBC Sounds of 2010 list out now...

the BBC were semi-accurate in their predictions in 2009. White Lies did well at the start of the year but their profile dropped like a rock by the summertime. does anyone even listen to them anymore???

BBC Sounds of 2010 long-list

what do you think? of the list, I agree with Delphic (whose album does battle with Vampire Weekend's "Contra" on 11 January), Two Door Cinema Club (whose debut album is scheduled to come out on Kitsune Maison in February), and Manchester's Everything Everything.

in general, I turn to Lammo for hot tips. though I wonder if the xx did so well because they were simply mentioned by him as a band to watch in 2009. not sure...

Month of Mercurys - this year's nominees take over 6music

another reason why I adore BBC Radio: they never fail to come up with interesting radio programme formats that prove they're all about the music.

every Sunday afternoon 6music has a 2-hour slot called "Month of Sundays" in which a band/act/singer/etc. is given complete control over what they want to play. the Kaiser Chiefs were given a whole month earlier this year to do just that, which means they had to fill 8 hours up with the music they like and show all of Britain what turns them on musically.

this month, 6music has decided to give the collective radio reins over to Mercury Prize nominees for their "Month of Mercurys" feature. 6 September was the Horrors' show (insert your Libertines-related joke here), and yesterday 13 September it was Friendly Fires' turn. as always, you have 7 days from the initial broadcast to listen to these BBC programmes on BBC iPlayer. the Horrors' set has already been closed out but you can still listen to FF's set this week until 20 September, when La Roux steps up to the plate.

in case you're a sped and can't manage to catch the shows, I will be providing the lists of selections here (thank you 6music):

the Horrors's selections
Apple — Buffalo Billycan
The Barrier — Spot The Lights
Caleb — Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad
Dave Davies — Creeping Jean
eLi — Never Mind
Fire — Fathers Name Was Dad
Lavender Grove — Lavender Grove
The Hill — Sylvie
The Idle Race — Imposters Of Lifes Magazine
John's Children — Desdemona
The Kinks — Lazy Old Sun
The Lovin' — All You'Ve Got
Martells — Time To Say Goodnight
The Nashville Teens — Last Minute
Orange Machine — Cr Crippens Waiting Room
Paul St. John — Flying Saucers Have Landed
Paul St. John — Spaceship Lover
The Pretty Things — Bracelets Of Fingers
The QPR Supporters — Supporters Support Us
Rhubarb Rhubarb — Moneylender
The Smoke — Sydney Gill
ALT VERSION
Tintern Abbey — Vacuum Cleaner
Unit — Would You Believe What I Say
The Virgin Sleep — Love
Ways and Means — Breaking Up A Dream
Excelsior Spring — It
The Yardbirds — Happening Ten Years Time Ago
The Zombies — Time Of The Season - aren't they from St. Albans? nice segue. ::grin::

Friendly Fires's selections
Nas — It Ain’t Hard To Tell
Electric Light Orchestra — Turn To Stone - funnily enough, I heard this on the way to work this morning and thought "Edd Gibson!"
Major Lazer — Pon The Floor
Empire of the Sun — We Are The People
Barrabás — High Light (Todd Terje Rekutt)
Deerhunter — Agrophobia
Was (Not Was) — Tell Me That I’m Dreaming
The xx — Basic Space - FF confirmed the xx will be touring with them on the NYLON Winter tour. nice how NYLON themselves have not bothered to post this important information! should I go to Boston? should I?
Bibio — Ambivalence Avenue
The Fall — Dr Buck’s Letter
Kylie Minogue — Slow
Jack Peñate — Tonight’s Today
Black Disco — Chains (Anonstop Edit) - note: Black Disco is the label, Ed Macfarlane has no idea who the artist is
D'Angelo — Greatdayinthemornin’/Booty
Motor City Drum — Raw Cuts #5
Tortoise — Crest
Jürgen Paape — Ofterschwang
House of House — Rushing To Paradise (Walking These Streets)
Holy Ghost! — Hold On
Joy Orbison— Hyph Mngo - note: it wasn't Roy Orbison! the site is WRONG!
Olivia Newton-John — Love Song - v. amused that Ed Macfarlane used his favourite word to describe music - "lush" - for this one

it's over - Mercury Prize 2009 winner announced!

and the winner is...to the shock of many in the world...Speech Debelle!

TGTF review here

she made a very short, sweet speech upon acceptance. afterwards she expressed her desire for world domination - to own her own record label by next year this time. oh, and to work with Kings of Leon. (that came out of left field...)

neither Friendly Fires nor La Roux won (they were my other picks)...but they did turn excellent performances, all of them (except for Glasvegas, whose singer James Allan has been mysteriously AWOL since the weekend).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/musicevents/mercuryprize/

personal hats off to FF's Jack Savidge, who I think REALLY needs a holiday from all of this. somehow he convinced the doctor at hospital to discharge him after being admitted just yesterday for a fever and a strange purple rash on his leg that his bandmates made fun of but I hope it's nothing serious (er...like a bleeding disorder or something...)

this week's Roundtable (03/09)

Tjinder Singh from Cornershop ("Brimful of Asha"!) joins Bella Union label's Simon Raymonde + journo Leonie Cooper

1. Weezer - "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" - Weezer is one of those bands I never got into, though apparently hordes of American teens like them. I don't if their fanbase aged with them or not b/c I don't think any of my friends still listen to them, but they always try to go for the fresh, teeny sound. that said - not my bag at all. they co-headlined the Virgin Free Fest at Merriweather last weekend - was I there? no. but I can see how some people like their sound.

2. Echo and the Bunnymen - "I Think I Need It Too" - I can't be the only one who is weirded out by all these "old" rock stars coming back into the fold. (er...Ian Brown's "Stellify"???) this falls into the "ooh what's that? oh...weird" category. nothing wrong with it, just not terribly inspiring. someone in the chatroom said it sounded like Neil Diamond. that's a terrible insult to Neil!

3. Lisa Hannigan - oops, missed the title... - Irish country/folk 2009 Merc nominee. this feels like well trod-on folky ground. am I missing something? if she wins the Mercury gong, it'll be one terrible upset indeed!

4. AFI - "Medicate" - hahaha Simon asked if they were American. is that enough for a Englishman to hate a band?

5. Wild Beasts - "All the King's Men" - man, that's an annoying as hell voice. wiggy wiggy fake falsetto. I don't mind male falsetto, it just has to be done properly.

6. oh shoot, my computer did one of those "Microsoft Explorer now needs to close" stupid actions so I missed this.

the winner - 7. the Cribs' new Ignore the Ignorant album including "We Share the Same Skies" and "Victim of Mass Production" - I dunno if I'm alone in this, but as a girl, when I listen to a guy singing, I want that voice to be enjoyable to my ears, not harsh and jarring. that Jarman voice is just jarring to me. I got used to "Cheat on Me", but when I first heard it I *hated* it. I will own up that Johnny Marr's involvement with the band got me interested them.

Stuart Maconie's opinions on this year's Mercury nominations

be quick, b/c it is only available for another 6 days on iPlayer!
The Radio2 Choice
Stuart Maconie looks back at the 1993 Mercury Award winning album, Suede by Suede. Stuart and Brett Anderson didn't always see eye to eye in the Brit pop era, we find out why in the Mercury Winners Show.

I do like a bit of Suede (not as much as my loveliest friend in South Carolina - !) but it wasn't so much about reminiscing about Stuart calling Suede a "Britpop" band as much as his comment about Steve Lamacq (the voice of reason" at the NME - hee!) and his opinions on the Mercury Prize nominees (and his four picks with a red asterisk*): [listen to the mp3]

Kasabian - "I quite like Kasabian, they seem to be the more intelligent version of Oasis a lot of the time"

*Bat for Lashes - "'Two Suns' - pleasant enough...can't really say it sets me alight, but is a very very good bet to win, as is *Florence and the Machine's 'Lungs'"

Friendly Fires - ..."'Friendly Fires', which I absolutely love" - I ♥ Stuart Maconie, but you already knew that :) if they win, Stuart and Ed Mac should so go clothes-shopping together.

*La Roux - "I quite like her"

the Horrors - "I thought they were completely gimmicky...I have not gone nuts about them as some people have"

*Glasvegas - "absolutely brilliant album and would be more than a worthy winner" (ugh. I'll forgive you Stu for the nice FF comment.)

Led Bib - "brilliant new schronky jazz that we would feature on the Freak Zone - not a chance"

Lisa Hannigan, Speech Debelle, Sweet Billy Pilgrim - "not much of a chance"

the Invisible - "they are v., v. cool in the Hoxton / Fin / Hot Chip way"

against all odds (Mercury Prize thoughts)

so who are your picks for winning the gong at the Mercury Prize festivities next week?

I still can't believe it's a week away. it seems like yesterday I was writing up an article for PopWreckoning about the 2009 nods.

who I want to win (in no particular order):

La Roux - long live electropop! yummy electronoise you can eat up with a spoon. she's a young London chick singer with opinions of her own. (wow, what a concept!) "this time baby, I'll be bulletproof" is my new mantra.

Friendly Fires - well, duh. but seriously, the three of them are some of the hardest-working people in the business. and somehow they've managed to keep their egos in check and are still nice guys. if I'm being honest, I'm afraid that if they do win, I'll never see them again. I hope they turn out like Maximo Park and are willing to play stadiums and small clubs so we who knew them "before they was" still get to see them on a stage smaller than those requiring a Jumbotron.

Speech Debelle - her sound has grown on me. if the acts above have to lose to anybody, I'd rather it be her winning the gong than anyone else. oh what was that act last year that I really liked that Stuart Maconie turned me on to...shoot...the girl rapper from New York...shoot...it'll come to me eventually.

who is probably going to win (again, in no particular order):

Florence and the Machine - the bookies' favourite. and she's pretty/cute too, so she's got that going for her.

Glasvegas - I never jumped on this particular bandwagon of Alan McGee's. could it be that I'm still sore that he basically dropped Dirty Pretty Things for Glasvegas? possibly. but honestly, I've listened to their music...it's a yawn. er..."Geraldine"? please.

Bat for Lashes - I saw her last month and was disappointed. I know she has her avid fans, but I just couldn't get into her performance...too theatrical for me and not enough musical substance...

the Horrors - they're ok. maybe they'll pick up the gong as a sleeper act.

Kasabian - if they win, I think the nation will groan collectively. no hype, no excitement.

for more stuff about this year's nominees, have a read of this previous entry.

I know where I'll be come 8 September at 20.00. in front of the compy, listening to Lammo's broadcast on 6music, waiting with baited breath for the winner(s) to be announced.

what I'm doing with my weekend instead of Reading/Leeds

so every year around this time I get really upset b/c I'm not at V, I'm not at Reading/Leeds, and I'm not going to Bestival. and then the BBC upsets me b/c they've got videos galore and b/c I don't live in the UK, I can't watch any of them.

however, this year, I decided to make myself useful and not too upset by trawling the Web finding videos that I can actually watch and will tide me over until I can actually see some of the acts live for the first time or again.

interestingly, tonight I found that the BBC has removed the copyright restrictions for videos they've linked up to the Mercury Prize nominations. I'm linking them here so if you're interested in finding out about any of these acts before the gong gets awarded on 8 September (only 2 weeks away, can you believe it???) you can.

Bat for Lashes - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "Daniel" performance on Later with Jools Holland

Florence and the Machine - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" backstage at Glastonbury + "You've Got the Love" at Ibiza Rocks

Friendly Fires - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + balls-to-the-wall version of "Jump in the Pool" with Brazilian dancers and extra percussion at Radio1's Big Weekend (never thought I'd ever see this...)

Glasvegas - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "Daddy's Gone" in Jo Whiley's Radio 1 Live Lounge

Kasabian - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "Fire" at Glastonbury

La Roux - stripped down version of "Bulletproof"; I actually saw this at the Glasto happy hour at DC9 in June :)

Led Bib - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + clip of "Sweet Chilli"

Lisa Hannigan - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "I Don't Know" performance on Later with Jools Holland

Speech Debelle - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + "Searching" backstage at Glastonbury

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - clip of "Truth Only Smiles"

The Horrors - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + video for "Who Can Say"

The Invisible - interview at Mercury Prize nomination party + video for "London Girl"

so if you can't be at Reading/Leeds and/or you're a poor sod like me who can't watch any of the BBC red button /iPlayer vids, that should keep you busy for a while!

Carl and Pete love at the NME awards

Pete Doherty and Carl Barat were reunited by means of the annual event that is known as the NME Awards last night. nice array of pics and misc coverage are available here and here.

It's also nice to see a good amount of people also slag off the Jonas Brothers. I'm soooo very sick of them...

Here's a list of last night's NME award winners from 6Music:

BEST BRITISH BAND supported by Shockwaves
Oasis
Bloc Party
Radiohead
Muse
Last Shadow Puppets

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND supported by 4music
Kings Of Leon
The Killers
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
Crystal Castles

BEST SOLO ARTIST
Ladyhawke
Jay-Z
Laura Marling
Lightspeed Champion
Peter Doherty

BEST NEW BAND supported by Bench
Vampire Weekend
MGMT
Glasvegas
Late Of The Pier
White Lies

BEST LIVE BAND supported by Red Stripe
Radiohead
Oasis
The Killers
Muse
Kings Of Leon

BEST ALBUM supported by HMV
Kings Of Leon - ‘Only By The Night’
The Killers - ‘Day & Age’
Glasvegas - ‘Glasvegas’
Oasis - ‘Dig Out Your Soul’
Bloc Party - ‘Intimacy’

BEST TRACK supported by NME Radio
Vampire Weekend - ‘A-Punk’
The Last shadow Puppets - ‘The Age Of The Understatement’
Kings Of Leon - ‘Sex On Fire’
The Ting Tings - ‘That's Not My Name’
MGMT - ‘Time To Pretend’

BEST VIDEO supported by NME TV
Late Of The Pier – ‘Heartbeat’
The Last Shadow Puppets - ‘My Mistakes Were Made For You’
Radiohead - ‘House Of Cards’
Vampire Weekend - ‘A-Punk’
Oasis - ‘The Shock Of The Lightning’

BEST LIVE EVENT
T in the Park
Glastonbury
Isle Of Wight Festival
Reading And Leeds Festival
V Festival

BEST TV
Skins
The Mighty Boosh
Gavin & Stacey
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
The IT Crowd

BEST DANCEFLOOR FILLER
Bloc Party - ‘Mercury’
Dizzee Rascal - ‘Dance Wiv Me’
Crystal Castles - ‘Courtship Dating’
Friendly Fires - ‘Paris’
Late Of The Pier - ‘Bathroom Gurgle’

BEST DVD
Foo Fighters - ‘Live At Wembley Stadium’
The Rolling Stones - ‘Shine A Light’
Kaiser Chiefs - ‘Live At Elland Road’
Arctic Monkeys - ‘At The Apollo’
Muse – ‘HAARP’

BEST BAND BLOG
Noel Gallagher / Oasis
Little Boots
Lightspeed Champion
Radiohead
Foals

BEST VENUE
London 02 Arena
London Astoria
Glasgow Barrowland
London 02 Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo

BEST ALBUM ARTWORK
We Are Scientists – ‘Brian Thrust Mastery’
Muse – ‘HAARP’
The Cure – ‘4:13 Dream’
Guillemots – ‘Red’
The Killers – ‘Day & Age’

HERO OF THE YEAR
Brandon Flowers
Noel Gallagher
Barack Obama
Noel Fielding
Alex Turner

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR
Amy Winehouse
George W Bush
Peter Doherty
John McCain
Gordon Brown

BEST DRESSED
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Alexa Chung
Alex Turner
Noel Gallagher

WORST DRESSED
Amy Winehouse
Peter Doherty
Katy Perry
Brandon Flowers
Johnny Borrell

WORST ALBUM
Jonas Brothers - ‘A Little Bit Longer’
Coldplay - ‘Viva La Vida’
Britney Spears – ‘Circus’
Scouting For Girls - ‘Scouting For Girls’
Razorlight - ‘Slipway Fires’

WORST BAND
Tokio Hotel
Jonas Brothers
Scouting for Girls
Fall Out Boy
Oasis

SEXIEST MALE
Carl Barât
Keith Murray
Matt Bellamy
Peter Doherty
Miles Kane

SEXIEST FEMALE
Hayley Williams
Kate Jackson
Alison Mosshart
Lykke Li
Stephanie Dosen

BEST WEBSITE
Facebook
YouTube
Last FM
MySpace
Bebo

random tidbit of the day: I just about died laughing when Stuart Maconie reported this on Monday night's programme - the pressings of the CD of Faryl Smith, a castoff from Britain's Got Talent, was discovered to be *not* to be her angelic own but the voice of the cantankerous Mark E. Smith and the Fall's 2008 album Imperial Wax Solvent.

Needless to say, Universal chiefs weren’t best pleased.

My spy tells me: “They had ordered hundreds of copies and they were staggered by what was on it. They have had severe words with the pressing plant.”

this begs the question, was the mistake in mixing up "Faryl" with "the Fall"? or perhaps mistaking one Smith for another? these photos side by side are hilarious.

Grammys vs. Brits - who's got the gong (not the clap)?

I don't follow award shows anymore. there was a time when I was younger that I used to watch all of them, even the Country Music Awards (now known as the "CMAs") b/c my grandma was a big fan of Randy Travis. but over the years, it became obvious that the people who were chosen to win any award - at least in the U.S. - weren't any bands or singers that I liked.

so it was was interesting to hear about the Grammys this year that British artists swamped the nominations and indeed, ended up picking up most of the major category trophies. while I am happy to see that the Brits were well represented, I'm ambivalent to all the accolades being given to Coldplay - a band that I liked at the beginning before they got way too big and now feels so incredibly commercial.

so much that I was glad to see Elbow beat them for a Brit last night.

I was also happy to see that the British like Duffy despite Adele being the only one who gets any credit for this white British girl invasion.

what follows are the list of winners from the Brits last night and from the Grammys earlier this month.

--

From 6Music, the full list of this year's BRIT nominees and winners (in bold):

British Album:
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Duffy - Rockferry
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

British Group:
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That

British Single:
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome - Dance Wiv Me
Duffy - Mercy Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy
Girls Aloud - The Promise
Leona Lewis - Better in Time
Scouting for Girls - Heartbeat
The X Factor Finalists - Hero

British Male Solo Artist:
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
The Streets
Will Young

British Female Solo Artist:
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
M.I.A.

British Breakthrough Act:
Adele
Duffy
The Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
The Ting Tings

British Live Act :
Coldplay
Iron Maiden
Scouting For Girls
The Verve
Elbow

International Album:
AC / DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Killers - Day & Age
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

International Group:
AC / DC
Fleet Foxes
The Killers
Kings of Leon
MGMT

International Male Solo Artist:
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist:
Beyonce
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold

Critics' Choice Award winner:
Florence & The Machine

Producer of the Year:
Bernard Butler

the list of Grammy winners is too long to list here, so go here if you are interested.