B Is For Blog

Of Montreal will return to the UK and Ireland next year as part of a European tour. The dates were confirmed this morning and coincide with the release of a single; ‘An Eluardian Instance’, pulled from recent album Skeletal Lamping, and due for release on January 26 through Polyvinyl.

Audiences have been warned to expect “nothing less” than orgiastic satyrs, giant body-popping Buddhas and tiny, gold lamé pants though it is not yet known whether that rather bashful looking gray will rejoin with Kevin Barnes’ psych pop motley, who were over just last month and feature on the cover of November’s Plan B.

Of Montreal will make the following stops in the new year:

Brighton Digital (January 24), Glasgow Oran Mor (26), Belfast Kitten Tree (27), Dublin Button Factory (28), Manchester Club Academy (29)

Illustrating for Plan B is just one of the things artist Lady Lucy gets up to - news has just reached us of her latest film project, Ladies, All The Ladies, showing at Picture This in Bristol from 26-29 November.

Lady Lucy’s film is the result of her quest for women MCs, DJs, producers and performers involved in hip-hop, drum’n'bass, garage, reggae, dancehall, r&b, house and grime from Bristol and internationally, who also use the prefix ‘Lady’. Featured ladies are Diss Miss (Dutty Girl, Girl Wonder), Laydee Bird, Lady Free, Lady K & Lady Maximum, Lady Paradox, Lady Raz, and probably a few more. Lucy O’Brien, music critic and author of She-Bop, has contributed a specially commissioned essay to accompany the exhibition.

Events

Saturday 29 November 2008, 2pm
Lady Lucy in conversation with some of the ladies who participated in the film chaired by Bridget Crone, Director Media Art Bath. Admission Free.

8-12pm
A night of music from some of the ladies featured in the film: Lady Free - drum ‘n bass from Hackney, Lady K and Lady Maximum - the UK’s only mother and daughter DJ/MC duo, Laydee Bird and Dutty Girl DJ’s. Admission £5/£3 conc on the door.

For more information see Picture This.

The third Yeah Yeah Yeahs record is due out early 2009, according to a post on the band’s MySpace late last night. Actual details remain sketchy, but an attached in-studio pic shows Karen O in Mickey Mouse ears and skeleton suit, with Nick Zinner in some kind of Nicky Wire/Richard O’Brien from The Crystal Maze animal print top, so fun is evidently being had.

The full statement reads as follows:

“There is no beating the bit of news sweeping the nation at the moment but YYYs have a bit of news of our own to share.  NEW RECORD? NEW RECORD!! NEW RECORD IS GETTING CLOSER TO BEING DONE DONE DONE! You still won’t be hearing it until 2009 but damn are we close to finishing it and only after a year of writing and recording!  Will it sound kind of like Show Your Bones? No, been there done that. What about IS IS? Is that more of the direction it’s going in?  Absolutely not, it sounds VERY different from last year’s EP.  Did we go back to our roots and write something closer to Fever to Tell? No looking back now silly, just full speed ahead. WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?? Not much like anything you’ve heard from us before- DOES IT SOUND LIKE THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS??? YOU BET YOU’RE SWEET ASS IT DOES. Phew, can’t wait. We can hardly wait ourselves, we miss all of you and we’ve been working extra hard on this one with the intention to make you as happy as possible.  Just wanted to drop a line to let you in on how quickly we’re approaching the finishing line and to GET PSYYYYYYYYYYYYCHED.

Love,

The YYYs”

Rough Trade celebrate 30 years of existence with the Looking Rough At 30 tour, headlined by current Rough Trade signee and long-term fan Jarvis Cocker. Jeffrey Lewis also appears at every date but the closing show in Birmingham.

Says Jarvis: “Strangely enough, this is also the 30th anniversary of my first involvement with making music (the first incarnation of Pulp was formed during an Economics lesson towards the end of October 1978). How could I have known then that our two destinies would become so intertwined? I’m proud to be part of these birthday celebrations – I know there’s an awful lot of Anniversary Culture out there but this is one that’s actually worth celebrating: Rough Trade has always been about discovering the new, exploring the unknown and giving a voice to those who would otherwise remain unheard. And they’re still doing it 30 years on. This is no dewy-eyed nostalgia trip – it’s an on-going revolution. Stand up and be counted!”

Looking Rough At 30 calls at the following venues:
Sheffield Academy (November 25), London Shepherds Bush Empire (26), Edinburgh Picture House (28), Manchester Academy (30), Birmingham Academy (December 02)