So it’s been quiet here lately. There was work–lots of it, every single day for ages and ages. Then there was holidaying and taking in gigs in numerous countries. Then there was the brutal flu. And then more work.

Throughout it all, Andrew Bird has been a helpful factor. Maybe sometime I’ll write about his recent show in Brussels, or blackmail Dermot into doing so. And hopefully sometime I can write about Armchair Apocrypha, his new album, which I adore more than I ever thought I would/could.

So I’m rather excited about him returning to NL in May, possibly Dosh-less, though this doesn’t seem to have been fully established yet:

22/05/07 : Rotown - Rotterdam (NL)
23/05/07 : Tivoli (De Helling) - Utrecht (NL)
24/05/07 : Paradiso - Amsterdam (NL)

mp3: Heretics

Well, why not, I mean it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it, bless him.

Much like the tolerance zones cities have for prostitutes and their clients to conduct their business in a safer and possibly more morally conducive environment, The Tool Shed has cleaned its kerbside, provided bins and adequate street-lighting and now they’ve allowed Andrew to strut his stuff in a seductive manner with the above, a real honest-to-goodness clean as a whistle .mp3 of Heretics for bloggers to link to without worrying about the moral repercussions.

So on you go.

Also, here are the European tour dates, with a new Dublin and Scando date. Nice to see him sold out in London and Paris.

MARCH 19 // Dublin, Ireland
CrawDaddy - another show added!

MARCH 20 // Galway, Ireland
Roisin Dubh

MARCH 21 // Dublin, Ireland
CrawDaddy

MARCH 22 // London, England
Bush Hall - SOLD OUT

MARCH 23 // Brussels, Belgium
Botanique

MARCH 24 // Gothenburg, Sweden
Club Woody @ Pusterviksbaren

MARCH 25 // Stockholm, Sweden
Kagelbanan/Sodra Teatern

MARCH 29 // Paris, France
La Maroquinerie - SOLD OUT

MARCH 30 // Amiens, France
Musique de Jazz et d’Ailleurs Festival

MARCH 31 // Benicassim, Spain
CinemaScore

European tour dates:

01 Mar 07     Bristol, England - Thekla
02 Mar 07     Leicester, England - Y Theatre
03 Mar 07     Nottingham,England - Rescue Rooms
04 Mar 07     Birmingham, England - Glee Club
06 Mar 07     Portsmouth, England - Wedgewood Rooms
07 Mar 07     London, England - Koko
09 Mar 07     Sheffield, England - Leadmill
10 Mar 07     Manchester, England - Academy 3
11 Mar 07     Glasgow, Scotland - Oran Mor
12 Mar 07     Dublin, Ireland - Temple Bar Music Centre
14 Mar 07     Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
15 Mar 07     Ghent, Belgium - Handelsbeurs
16 Mar 07     Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
18 Mar 07     Madrid, Spain - Moby Dick
19 Mar 07     Barcelona, Spain - LA 2
21 Mar 07     Milan, Italy - Rainbow Club
22 Mar 07     Zurich, Switzerland- Moods
24 Mar 07     Stuttgart, Germany - Theaterhaus
25 Mar 07     Munich, Germany - Ampere
26 Mar 07     Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
27 Mar 07     Hamburg, Germany - Knust
28 Mar 07     Copenhagen, Denmark - Pumpehuset
29 Mar 07     Aarhus, Denmark - Vox Hall
31 Mar 07     Stockholm, Sweden - tbc
1 Apr 07       Oslo, Norway - John Dee

I believe there’s also an Icelandic date after Oslo. Personally, I’m hoping to catch three gigs.

Her new single ‘In Shock’ is released this week in UK/Europe (not US), followed by the album Learn to Sing Like a Star on 29 January. I ordered both from the 4AD store last week and they’re now on their way to me. It’s not the cheapest place to buy, but it’s a matter of old loyalty. Of course, Friday officially marked the last day in the job of mail order legend (and friend of many years) Jo, so I can’t promise the same level of excellent service from her replacements, but I’m sure they’ll try.

4AD also posted the ‘In Shock’ video on youtube, so you can watch that here. It’s hardly a music video masterpiece, but you have to bear in mind that it was recorded with zero budget, possibly with favours from friends. Still worth watching.

On 19 December at Paradiso, the organisation/indie promoter Subbacultcha! celebrates its second birthday with a huge party and lots of live music. I’m starting to get the impression everyone is invited to play as the line-up just keeps growing. Here’s just a selection of artists who currently have their name down: T-99, About, Ghost Trucker, The Bent Moustache, Zoppo, Blues Brother Castro, Hospital Bombers, David Gilmour Girls, The Ik Jan Cremers, Lucky Fonz III, Aux Raus, zZz, Oops-A-Daisies, The Pedro Delgados and Scram C Baby.

It’s still a few weeks off, but what I like is that to mark the occasion, Subbacultcha! has put together an mp3 compilation containing 13 of the bands (with downloadable artwork too). Handy for locals looking to grab rare tracks by bands they might have missed so far, and excellent for anyone further afield looking to catch a glimpse into the inner underground of the Dutch/Amsterdam indie scene.

You can download the compilation here.

Yes, I conceded to that long ago, but there’s a little tour going on just now that I thought I would mention. Called ‘Girls Do It Better’, it features Californian indie pop band The Ian Fays and new Dutch band The Cuties (from Spijkenisse and Rotterdam).

Dates are:

30 Nov - 013, Tilburg
1 Dec - Merleyn, Nijmegen
2 Dec - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam

Both bands then go their separate ways. But the thing is, a few weeks ago Stereo compiled an mp3 compilation of female music in tribute to this tour. Titled Stop Staring At My Tits, it features the bands above, as well as others like Neko Case and Erase Errata.

Ah, my hairy darlings have finally announced a new tour for the release of their album My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go. I have seen Aereogramme many, many times in the past, but it’s been a long time since the last occasion so I’m quite excited. They already played London last week, and I had to be rational and stay home to work. Anyway…

All dates in February 2007:
Sun 4th, UK, Leeds, Josephs Well
Mon 5th, UK, Manchester, Night & Day
Tue 6th, UK, London, 93 Feet East
Wed 7th, UK, Southampton, Joiners
Thu 8th, UK, Oxford, Zodiac
Sat 10th, UK, Nottingham, Social
Sun 11th, UK, Birmingham, Bar Academy
Mon 12th, UK, Glasgow, Classic Grand
Wed 14th, Belgium, Brussels, vk club
Thu 15th, Holland, Hertogenbosch, W2-concertzaal
Fri 16th, Holland, Groningen, Vera
Sat 17th, Holland, Haarlem, Patronaat
Mon 19th, Germany, München, Backstage Werk
Tue 20th , Germany, Nuernberg, Hirsch
Wed 21st, Germany, Frankfurt, Batschkapp
Thu 22nd, Germany, Bochum, Zeche
Fri 23rd, Germany, Berlin, Postbahnhof
Sun 25th, Germany, Hamburg, Markthalle
Mon 26th, Germany, Cologne, Buergerhaus Stollwerck
Tue 27th, Germany, Saarbruecken, Garage
Wed 28th, Germany, Karlsruhe, Substage
(and all written out by guitarist Iain, so they’re probably spelled wrong)

Right, I know I’m typically the one to break gig news, but come on, someone could have given me a heads up that Nine Inch Nails are playing Amsterdam Paradiso on March 21 and 22. Instead I finally get to sleep-in, and wake up to an email announcing it after it’s apparently sold out. Damn.

Of course, I’m hugely wary of spending around €50 on any band, but I’m still under 30 and I still loves to dance to the Nails, as with that glorious night in July 2005 at Glasgow Barrowlands and a rainy field at Glastonbury 2000. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to settle for Kim Wilde on February 22 as an industrial rockin’ substitute. That would be a great garden-friendly gig the day after The Decemberists.

The circumstance has forced me to look further forward into the gig future, rather than the two or three weeks I’m used to with work, and while there’s some absolute crap on the 2007 horizon, it’s nice to note that Built to Spill are booked into Paradiso next May. Long way off though.

mp3: Except for the Ghosts

website: http://www.lisagermano.com

I first fell heavily for Lisa Germano around 1998/99. There was a 4AD compilation distributed by Uncut magazine at the time, and while I was already into a bunch of 4AD artists, it set me off on a major voyage of discovery. That year, Germano released her album Slide, which was represented on said comp, and it was to become a major staple in my auditory diet for some time. And like all records you really love, it started my quest to own her whole catalogue, which took an extra year or two. As an aside, Slide, was produced wonderfully by Tchad Blake, who I’ve already mentioned today, so this could be a recurring theme in my posts, but I’ll come back to it another time.

Over the years, Germano has toured with a bunch of artists. I remember her coming to Glasgow once in support of Eels. Actually, she was also part of their touring band at the time, and while I didn’t see the gig, it was a delight to see her playing violin for them on mainstream TV shows, dressed up in silly costumes. In the end, I did see her play live numerous times–maybe five or six–but that was when she was part of Neil Finn’s band around 2001. And at least she was allowed to perform some of her own material.

Since, she’s gone through phases of locking herself away from the public, swearing off songwriting, eventually resurfacing in LA/Largo, and recording a scattering of understated piano-based albums. They haven’t really collided with me in the same way Slide and all that early material did, but it’s still Lisa–melancholic, solemn, pretty, violins, piano and her unmistakable voice. So I do still have a soft spot for her, and for this post, I’ve upped ‘Except for the Ghosts’ from her latest album In the Maybe World. It’s a pretty sparse/basic collection of songs, but it has its moments, and I chose this song because it reminds me of New Zealand. Admittedly I’ve never been to New Zealand, but there’s something about the atmosphere of this track which captures the mood of the soundtrack to the NZ film Rain (2001), of which she also featured on the soundtrack–see how my mind works?

And she does start her European tour next week (including one NL date in Haarlem).

09/11/06 : Tanned Tin festival - Castellon (ES)
10/11/06 : The Cube - Bristol (UK)
11/11/06 : The Luminaire - London (UK)
12/11/06 : Botanique – Brussel (B)
13/11/06 : STUK – Leuven (B)
14/11/06 : Patronaat – Haarlem (NL)
15/11/06 : Gleis 22 - Münster (D)
16/11/06 : Point Ephemere - Paris (F)
18/11/06 : Starclub - Dresden (D)
19/11/06 : Brotfabrik - Frankfurt (D)
20/11/06 : Schocken - Stuttgart (D)
21/11/06 : Palace - St. Gallen (CH)
22/11/06 : Usine Ptr - Geneva (CH)
23/11/06 : L’abordage - Evreux (F)
25/11/06 : L’Entrepot - Toulouse (F)
26/11/06 : Conservatori Superior de Musica - Mallorca (ES)
27/11/06 : La Pedrera - Barcelona (ES)
28/11/06 : Los Picos - Liérganes (Cantabria) (ES)
29/11/06 : Teatro Circo - Braga (PT)
30/11/06 : Teatro Circo - Braga (PT)
01/12/06 : Moby Dick - Madrid (ES)
02/12/06 : Santiago Alquimista - Lisboa (PT)

Buy

mp3: Taking Up Serpents

website: http://www.curtiseller.com

Last written about here in April, the madman of bluegrass is back with his banjo, his yodelling and a chair to stand on. A little-known songwriter but a fantastic and memorable performer, Curtis is heading back out on European roads this week. So I’ve upped a track from his 2004 release Taking Up Serpents Again for you to embrace…and here are those tour dates:

November 03 - Patronaat, Haarlem
November 04 - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam
November 05 - De Bakkerij, Castricum
November 09 - Coventry
November 10 - Leeds
November 11 - Manchester
November 12 - London
November 14 - Bath
November 15 - Hull
November 16 - Newcastle
November 17 - Edinburgh
November 18 - Sheffield
November 19 - Leicester

See here for complete venue information.

The Crane Wife. Will it? Won’t it?

Apparently their new album The Crane Wife is officially released in Europe/UK this weekend/tomorrow. About time. I don’t agree with breaking up releases into different markets, and in this day and age when the internet rules, I only see it as harmful. And while I did already admit recently that we’ve now waded into the greatest hits time of year, I’d have been furious if Rough Trade really did postpone the album until January or February, as has been the key speculation of late.

Anyway, here are the European tour dates (lifted from the old spitfork news article, hence the backward dates):

02-02 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
02-03 Dublin, Ireland - Village
02-04 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
02-05 Manchester, England - Academy 2
02-07 Nottingham, England - Trent University
02-08 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire
02-09 Southampton, England - University
02-10 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
02-12 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
02-13 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
02-14 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
02-16 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-son
02-17 Bologna, Italy - Estragon
02-18 Munich, Germany - Ampere
02-19 Vienna, Austria - Flex Club
02-21 Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Paradiso
02-22 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie

Now don’t go selling out Amsterdam before I defy my ‘lazy’ and order tickets.

Completing my trio of album/news posts tonight, I’ve been reminded through my newspaper listings work that Under Byen are visiting NL very soon. As previously reported on Stayfun, they’ll be in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, plus there are extra shows in Eindhoven and Apeldoorn, reminding us that there’s more to life than just the Randstand. Complete tour details are available here.

It also means that their most recent album Samme Stof Som Stof will finally be available to buy. Not quite yet, but should be in most shops by the end of this week, or if you require an online sales point there’s always Youmakemusic.

I know I’ve made countless Under Byen posts this year, but the fact remains that I think some of the stuff they’re doing is bloody brilliant and is right where my music mind is these days.

I’m back in the saddle again, as Steve Tyler used to say back in the seventies, though he maybe can’t remember it. I’ve been in Denmark these last couple of weeks, living with the wasps on the campsites (not the Danish band Campsite), depending on my mp3 player for entertainment in the daylight and pitch black, while existing without internet, TV and typical home comforts. But we all need a break from the keyboard sometime, so it’s refreshing to unplug yourself. And it’s always nice to be completely oblivious to the usual madness going on in the world.

Denmark is of course a lovely country in which to chill out, feeling superior to the Netherlands in many respects, with actual product choice in supermarkets and loads of free space for you to turn, breath and just take in the scenery, although is let down in that its language, which seems rather simple and easy to follow on paper, is transformed into a chaotic mess when spoken. As a bonus, you get to soul search and get to seek out your inner viking, of whom the Danes are exceptionally proud.

CDs, however, are horribly over-priced, meaning I wasn’t able to come back with any Under Byen. As one of the few Danish bands I care about, it would have been nice to pick up some nice merchandise from their home soil, but helaas, while most shops did stock them (if you searched properly), the albums would have cost around €23, which is completely unreasonable in my eyes.

Still, it’s a pleasant surprise to return to the real world and see that they’ll be touring in NL in November. Here are the first three dates I’ve found.

03-11: Ekko, Utrecht
06-11: Paradiso, Amsterdam
08-11: Rotown, Rotterdam

There may well be one or two extras too, but I have no official sources to call upon right now.

I don’t have any personal mp3s to post, but here are some tracks from their official website (some of which I’ve linked to and written about in the past).

mp3: Af samme stof som stof
mp3: Den her sang handler om at få det bedste ud af det
mp3: Plantage
mp3: Hjertebarn

Since it’s a day for heavy music.

Ages ago I posted about Tool playing in Amsterdam at Heineken Music Hall. For a while there it looked like it might not be happening. Evil Mojo Concerts denied it was going to take place, but I kept my faith and didn’t fly to Scotland to see them. Turns out I was right.

They were just withholding the date because Tool were playing crappy Pinkpop this weekend and they were worried an Amsterdam date would harm festival ticket sales. Bah, I say. They did a similar trick a couple of years ago with Pixies too.

Anyway, the good news is that Tool are playing HMH on June 27, as originally posted here months ago. Even if you have no interest in Tool, find a friend with the new album 10,000 Days and check out what is surely one of the coolest and most elaborate pieces of album artwork ever produced - with built in stereoscopic viewer and high detail 3-D imaging.

Okay, my other recent Carla Bozulich post is still in clear site here, as I’ve been so busy lately. But I’ve important information to add…tour dates!

From Southern.net, hence the bad formatting. All in June.

03 GER : DUDINGEN - BAD BONN KILBI (www.badbonn.ch)
04 SWZ : THUN - MOKKA (www.mokka.ch)
06 UK: LONDON- KOKO (www.koko.uk.com) with Silver Mt. Zion, Blackheart Procession
08 UK : LONDON - 12 BAR (www.12barclub.com) with Jesus Licks, Hungry Dog
09 UK : MANCHESTER- ISLINGTON MILL with Miasma & Carousel of Headless Horses
13 GER : KOELN - KULTURBUNKER (www.kulturbunker-muelheim.de)
14 GER : HAMBURG - HAFENKLANG (www.hafenklang.de)
15 GER : BERLIN - West Germany Club with Girl from Oman
16 GER : WEIKERSHEIM- CLUB W71 (www.clubw71.de)
17 AUS: WELS - SCHL8HOF (schl8hof.wels.at)
18 AUS : WIEN- RHIZ (www.rhiz.org)

But more importantly for me, two Dutch dates are part of the tour, so go support Carla Bozulich on

June 10: Huishoudschool, Den Haag
June 12: Bitterzoet, Amsterdam

Admittedly, I’ve no idea where the Huishoudschool actually is, but I do know they had real problems booking Dutch dates, and all they really care about it is getting out, playing to interested people and sharing their music, so please make an effort to support them, and spread the word around to anyone who may care.

Some names for Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam on July 2 are slowly leaking out. A couple of the appealing ones are Why? and The Gossip.

Separately, it seems The Thermals are heading back to NL. Playing Patronaat in Haarlem (July 23) and Effenaar in Eindhoven (July 24), the question on my mind is, will they still be fast and fun or will they do a 90 minute set of garage ballads?