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Jay-Z
We know their Glastonbury beef is very old news but finally someone has got round to making an Oasis vs Jay-Z mash-up and the results are pretty awesome - especially Wonderback. You can hear the whole thing on MySpace but be quick party people [http://tinyurl.com/5z8vxg].
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The Chemical Brothers
Want to be in a pop video? Of course you do. The Chemical Brothers are doing something fancy with Google Earth to launch their new song Midnight Madness and they want fans to take part. The idea is you film a short clip of anything that vaguely relates to, erm, the insanity of the midnight hour and upload it to their site [thechemicalbrothers.com]. Hopefully on 1st September you'll see your film incorporated into the project. I'm sure it'll be great but nothing could come close to capturing this masterpiece [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A3CzptgIvcU]. God truly is a DJ.
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Leon Jackson
X Factor's back this weekend. But what, you might be wondering happened to last year's champ. What was his name again? Ah yes Leon Jackson. Well, he's been busy writing and recording his new album and, judging by the video on his website – ageing about 25 years. What happened to plucky little crying Leon from Scotland – this new fella's an imposter surely with his old man stare and Zoolander stare. See for yourself at leonjacksonmusic.com
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U2's Bono
According to atu2.com the first single from the forthcoming U2 album will be entitled Sexy Boots. Yup, the fellas are bringing sexy back – in boot form. Clips of four songs made their way onto a couple of fan sites yesterday – although they appear to have been recorded on a very cheap phone hidden at the bottom of a shopping bag by a couple of French kids hanging outside Bono's holiday pad. Having heard them these are four words that spring to mind – 1) funky, 2) bassy, 3) echoey, 4) scrunchy. Mark my words, this is going to be U2's scrunchiest album ever.
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Amy Winehouse
So even though Amy Winehouse's theme to the new James Bond movie was rejected in favour of a duet between Jack White and Alicia Keys she says she's going to record the song anyway as an act of revenge."I guess they are going for clean-cut and boring. When I do release mine—and I am tempted to do it on the same day — this would be the bigger hit." Yes Amy but will it be as good as Joe Cornish's (of Adam & Joe fame) proposed theme http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TMoJRLStD9c]. I seriously doubt it.
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Coldplay's Chris Martin
One video is enough for most bands but not Coldplay - oh, no. They've made two. Good to see the credit crunch isn't affecting everyone. But which one is better - the super expensive-looking one made by Hype Williams [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE] or the not super expensive-looking-that-probably-was-super-expensive one by Anton Corbijn [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gJkLgawoElg]? Neither of them are as good as this one [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nZa0OQL2_bY] however.
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Akon and Jackson
What with the credit crunch, the Humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the abuse of power in Zimbabwe and the continuing war in Iraq, the world is in desperate need of some healing. Thankfully, it appears we are about to receive it in the form of Hold My Hand a duet between Akon and one time King Of Pop Michael Jackson. Speaking to MTV, Akon revealed: "The concept is to bring all the people together as one person linking as one world. At the state of where the world is now, with all these wars and conflict all over the place, I think a record like that is needed. That's the best time when a voice needs to be heard... What better voice between me and Mike to be able to say something like that at the time we in?" Indeed - Obama, Gordon Brown, Martin Lewis from Money Saving Expert dot com, UN Peacekeepers please step aside, your work is no longer required.
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The Streets' new song, The Escapist, is growing on in a Ghetto Gospel style, while the video is like a reverse version of The Verve's classic Bittersweet Symphony – white clothes, viewed from the back and exotic locations instead of grotty Britain. Brilliantly you can download the track for free here and all Mike Skinner asks for in return is your email address.
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Burial
Interesting that the underground (overground, wombling free) dubstep artist Burial has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. With the recognition and fame the award brings will he have to relinquish his anonymity? I hope not. There should be more anonymous artists - it allows for a level of romance, we can wonder what the person behind the music is like and how they live and it stops you getting disillusioned by the reality. There are loads of rumours about Mr Burial - that he's a graphic designer, a really old dude or a building society manager. Whatever the truth is I don't want to know. And if he wins I hope he collects his award in silhouette and has his voice replaced by actors.
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Oasis
Having come off badly from their so-called beef with Jay-Z and still without a drummer, Oasis have reminded everyone they're still going by releasing the track titles from their October released album [News story here]. In reality this is only marginally more interesting than the old lady next door releasing details of her shopping list (and equally predictable) - Falling Down, Bag It Up, Soldier On - hardly getting the Britpop pulses racing is it? Fair do's the title (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady is tantilising (we're hearing strings, cowbell and a guest vocal by H from Steps) but what's most exciting is the artwork for Dig Out Your Soul. If we're judging an album by its cover I'm going to stick my neck out and predict Oasis are going for a Beatlesy 60s guitar rock-inspired sound with occasional backwards guitar and many mentions of the words "sky", "high" and "why".
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Debbie Harry
Blondie singer Debbie Harry is part-sheep. Meditating on her still youthful appearance she revealed to People magazine that in her early-30s she went to Christian Barnard's experimental Swiss clinic researching fresh cell replacement. "I went along to Switzerland to have a course of 11 injections, from the embryos of black sheep," she said. "They would take from the liver, glands, bone and whatever and make up these injections... Whether that treatment lasted this long, I don't know. But I feel great." All together now: "Once I had lamb and it was divine/Soon found out I was losing my mind/It seemed like the real thing but it was just Quorn..."
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Some Elton John food news. The Rocket Man just hooked up with the ice cream guys Ben & Jerrys to launch a special one-off tub Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road.
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Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest and Fairport Convention's Cropedy were the first but now dozens of bands are looking to stage their own festivals. The Levellers' Beautiful Days is already established, but two other Brighton bands are looking to put on their own smelly outdoor happenings - The Kooks say Glastonbury is getting too big and there should be more alternatives (er, is there not about ten every weekend?) so they'll be putting on their own mini-Glasto next year, possibly in singer Luke's back garden. Or in his hair - whatever's cheapest. Meanwhile, British Sea Power are hosting their own big bash at the end of the summer. In typical BSP style the event will take place at Britain's highest pub - The Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales - and will feature duck herding, husky racing, a pub quiz, a tug o war and "a very loud barman". Can't wait. Tickets on sale now.
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Page and Plant
One of the attractions at the newly-opened Hard Rock Park (www.hardrockpark.com) - a rock n roll theme part in Myrtle Beach South Carolina is a Led Zeppelin-branded roller coaster. A fitting tribute, I think you'll agree, to the majesty of Plant and Page. As if this wasn't great enough the whole ride is synced to the classic Whole Lotta Love - here's a few clips of the ride's construction and concept (http://www.grandstrand.sc/led-zeppelin-the-ride.htm). Elsewhere in the park are rides based on hits by The Moody Blues (Nights In White Satin), The Eagles (Life In The Fast Lane) and Bon Jovi (Slippery When Wet). No word yet on when the Ocean Colour Scene-themed ride (The Day We Caught The Ghost Train?) will be opening but we're sure it's only a matter of time.
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Neil Diamond
I've finally landed back in Planet Normal again after six long days enjoying the delights and horrors of the People's Republic Of Glastonbury. Apart from some rain on Thursday night and a few showers on Friday it was dry, which made a huge difference to the mood of the place – this year it was less Vietnam and more Cheltenham, especially as the food has undergone some Jamie Oliver-esque gentrification (or maybe there have always been Moroccan tagines, sushi and organic meatball wraps but it was just too muddy for me to notice). Musically the festival was a surprising challenge – Kings Of Leon were lifeless and Amy Winehouse shambolic but most of the other major headliners were triumphs.
Everyone was talking about Jay-Z – especially his entrance and cover of Wonderwall – but The Verve proved the doubters wrong too with an incredible epic rock set. For me, though, the real musical treats were further down the bill with whole field singalongs to Elbow's On A Day Like This, Hot Chip's Wearing My Rolex (with Wiley) and father of cheesy listening Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.
Aside from music my most surreal experience was having a jacuzzi at 3am in the Shangri-La field while people danced to Seventies disco around the tubs. Just a tad embarrassing if I'd been sober. All was going great until the pool was invaded by a couple of hippy streakers, but then you have to expect a bit of nudity at Glastonbury after all. If you went or even if you stayed at home and watched on telly it'd be good to hear what your highlights of the festival were. Check out our pictures and leave your comments here >>
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Big beef
Soulja Boy and Ice T's fight (can't remember what it was about now - something to do with not putting the toilet seat down maybe... er, no that was me) is reaching all new post-modern proportions. Now, rather than trading blows via hastily ad-libbed mixtapes or pointing at each other and pulling faces, the beef has escalated into animation. Soulja Boy's latest South Park style attack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ4ycHTOkyk (WARNING: clip contains adult language) - takes a dig at Mr T's senior status, but the payback is in the comments with nearly everyone falling on the side of "the respected actor and rapper" (and they don't mean Mark Wahlberg). Next we expect a series of hilarious T-shirts, bumper stickers and perhaps some witty retorts spelled out in the vapour trails of bi-planes.
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Mark E Smith
One doesn't expect argy-bargy at the MOJO Awards - the stately ceremony for the discerning older men of rock. But strange events occurred the other evening when Mark E Smith - not one to go quietly into the dark night - was presented with the magazine's Maverick Award by Yorkshire rockers The Cribs. Smith became belligerent when he was invited to pose for pictures with the band, swearing and demanding to be photographed alone. In fear for their safety the skinny-jeaned tykes fled the scene. Footage of this episode is yet to emerge on YouTube, but while searching we were reminded of the occasion when The Fall's singer read the classified football results: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUiPs1PxKo. Great interview skills from Ray "Strangeways" Stubbs at the end.
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Sigur Rós
Some of us saved ourselves a few bob listening to the new Coldplay album on MySpace this week rather than downloading it or actually going to a shop and buying a CD (what are they again?). Fans of frugal listening might be interested to note these other half-decent full-length album streams that have just popped up on this magnificent Internet of ours. Icelandic wool-botherers Sigur Rós are premiering their ridiculously long-titled new opus at their official site (http://www.sigurros.com/main/streaming.asp), The Hold Steady's new one can be heard over at MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady) and at his label Lost Highway you can hear a stream of Elvis Costello's delicately titled Momofuku (http://losthighwayrecords.com/artist/releases/release.aspx?pid=1749&aid=175).
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Gene Simmons
Football teams last forever, right – they just change players, coaches and managers – so why not bands? This is the theory behind the announcement that ageing US panto-rockers Kiss are planning to make a TV talent show where they'll recruit a completely new line-up in order to keep the band going: http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/article/?id=48399. Of course it’s easier for Kiss considering the fact that their fans don’t actually care who’s really lurking behind their make-up, but what a genius idea. Could this work for anyone else? In the meantime Kiss – or at least we think they’re the real Kiss, who knows, are readying themselves for their headline slot at Download Festival this Friday.
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Bextor: posh pop
Nobody does frosty glacial pop better than everybody’s favourite daughter of a former Blue Peter presenter, Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Having witnessed Roisin Murphy, Alison Goldfrapp and lovely little pixie lady Robyn all attempt to steal her posh disco crown, Ms Ellis-Bextor is back on the dancefloor with murder in her eyes and two new tracks popping up on her MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sophieellisbextor. Produced by Calvin Harris, Off And On and the sassy Eighties-sounding Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer are both top notch electro-belters. Apparently the pair were supposed to be extra tracks on a Greatest Hits album but her ladyship is so pleased with her efforts she reckons they're too good for that and is making a proper album. Sterling stuff.
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Usher: cyber man
Not quite in the same league as Kanye West's rant against George W Bush, but Usher did a fantastic bit of microphone hogging on American TV this week to set the record straight on a number of bad rumours spreading about him: watch. For one thing Mrs Usher is not 40 OK - a terrible oversight, not unlike his Usher-ness saying "hello Manchester" when he played Radio One's Big Weekend a couple of weeks back in, erm Maidstone. Easy mistake.
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Mozza on the blog
Shoplifters, handsome devils, high court judges and lazy sunbathers watch this space - www.itsmorrisseysworld.com - yes Morrissey is penning his very own blog. The charmingly named Je Suis Morrissey will commence shortly.
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Pharrell: chair man
Pharrell Williams is one of the coolest, richest and most successful artists in the world today. He's got the solo hits, he's got the group hits, he's Timberlake's producer, he's Madonna's producer, he drives an Enzo Ferari and a Mercedes SLR McLaren, he wins Grammy Awards, best dressed man awards, he's got his own fashion label, his own line of sunglasses for Louis Vuitton, his own brand sneakers and cheekbones you could grate Parmesan on. He is so rich he's got a skate park inside his house. There are limits to one man's genius and cool, however, and in the case of Pharrell that limit has arrived. Witness this hideous object the hip hop icon is behind - http://bbcicecream.com/blog/2008/05/22/perspective/ - a chair that "represents the love between a woman and man" no less. Prepare your sick bags people, he goes on... "I had often wondered what it's like to truly be in love, not lust for once," he says of his porno chair. "So I decided not to ask what it was like in someone else's shoes or what it was like to sit in their seat. I decided to sketch out my own experiment; the perspective chair." You should see what he's got planned for a hat-stand.
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Cabby!
I really love The Black Cab Sessions, where they get musicians to clamber into the back of a London taxi and play a few numbers. For visiting bands the attractions are many – you get a free ride from your hotel to gig venue plus you get to see a few sites along the way. When it started out the acts they attracted were of the solo troubadour variety but they're definitely getting bigger – The Futureheads and somewhat appropriately Death Cab For Cutie recently hailed the most bijou venue in town. Gigs don't really get much more intimate – although I am considering renting out my cupboard if any bands are interested.
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Noely
Oasis have a new member - Chris Sharrock, the former drummer in the band of that "fat dancer from Take That" aka Robbie Wiliams. With Robbie more preoccupied with UFO spotting these days you can hardly blame the chap.
The news comes days after it emerged Zac "son of Ringo" Starkey would no longer be tub thumper for the Britpop legends after falling out with Noel Gallagher. Having gone through more drummers than Manchester City have had managers in the last decade, Oasis are quickly emerging as the Spinal Tap of indie. Hopefully their next stage show will come complete with scaled down replica of the 'henge.---
Jay-Z has a street named after him, rapper Ludacris has a gym titled in his honour and in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier one of the chair lifts has been christened James Blunt. Few singers though can compete with rusty old folkster Neil Young.Biologist Jason Bond discovered a new species of trapdoor spider recently and opted to call the arachnid after his favourite musician, naming it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.
Somewhat incredibly, this isn't the first case of a bug being named after an aging rocker. Some years ago a new type of whirligig beetle was named the Orectochilus orbisonorum after Roy Orbison. How brilliant. I had some goldfish once called Salt and Pepa but that doesn't really count...
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Suggs in Heaven
The people of Heaven must have been in, well, heaven a few days ago when they got two 1980s icons for the price - two chaps previously known as Nutty Boys (Carl and Suggs of Madness) joined two chaps still known as The Pet Shop Boys onstage at the Can You Bear It? benefit show.
As if this wasn’t enough the newly formed quartet worked their way through a version of the Madness classic My Girl – given a fresh new pop sheen by Chris and some fully-refreshed dancing from Suggs. Thankfully someone caught the whole magical moment on a camera phone – make sure to look out for Neil Tennant giving Suggs some very subtle cues of when he should stop bouncing and start singing.
Watch it here
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Lennox for Mandela
Queen, Annie Lennox, Simple Minds and Eddy Grant are among the headliners of quite possibly the least thrilling big gig line-up ever. No, not Glastoldbury (see what I did there) – this is 46664. The concert celebrates Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday – 46664 being his old prison number, now the name of his AIDS charity and also the number of brave souls who will be allowed to attend the event on 27th June in London's Hyde Park. I think I've got to fix the bathroom taps that day, sorry. Hopefully no one will mention that Queen supported the homelands policy of the apartheid regime when they played Sun City during Mr Mandela's incarceration. Oops.
Other acts set to appear include Paul Young's Italian mate Zucchero, Dame Shirley Bassey, Johnny Clegg and in a brave move to include someone under 60, Razorlight. There's going to be some crazy Werther's Original snorting scenes backstage, that's for sure.
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Blunt force trauma
Last summer, responding to grumbles that the crowd at Glastonbury Festival was getting too old, organiser, dairy farmer and Britain's top beard enthusiast Michael Eavis said he wanted to "encourage more youngsters". With ticket sales slow many waited with anticipation for the announcement of this year's Pyramid Stage line-up. It was officially announced yesterday.
So how is Mr Eavis bringing in those "youngsters"? The answer appears to be with Shakin' Stevens, Leonard Cohen, James Blunt and Gilbert O'Sullivan. Cohen and Blunt no doubt have a couple of fans under 60 but Shaky? No one had any interest as to what lurked behind his Green Door in the 80s, let alone 20 years after his sell-by date. As for Gilbert O'Sullivan – he had his last proper hit 35 years ago with Why Oh Why Oh Why. Why indeed?
What do you think of this year's Glasto line-up?
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New Coldplay album
A triple whammy of excitement for Coldplay fans today. Violet Hill, the first single from their snappily titled new album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, will be available for one week as a free download from their official website, www.coldplay.com. As if this wasn't enough there is also news of two free shows at Brixton Academy in London on 16th June and New York Madison Square Garden on 23rd June.
The last piece of the jigsaw is less thrilling – the cover artwork (http://coldplay.com/artwork.html) depicting a bloodied battle scene from the French revolution by Eugene Delacroix with a buxom lass marching over a pile of dead bodies. Reminds me of that time a paparazzi tried to take a picture of Chris Martin on his way out to Waitrose.
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Blonde ambition
Newly blonde Lily Allen has posted a couple of brand new tracks to her
MySpace page - http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic - and they're radically different to the springy ska-pop we've known her for to date. She's Little Miss Serious and grown-up now, it would appear, and if the track I Don't Know is anything to go by, struggling to cope with the downside of the fame game. To these ears it's a great move but have a listen and tell us what you reckon.
Lily Allen's new songs - your comments >>
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Pat Butcher?
In the run up to the release of new album Hard Candy Madonna has been announced as the headline attraction at Radio One's Big Weekend in Maidstone on 10th May - quite probably the most exciting thing to happen in Maidstone since Tom Baker was spotted in WH Smiths. The event - which also features The Enemy, The Kooks and Scouting For Girls - is free but getting hold of tickets is a complete lottery and you'll need to register here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend/2008/ - before Monday 28th April. The Feeling, who support the 49 year-old Queen of Pop on the Saturday night, are so excited they're threatening to dress up as Madonna in various stages of her career as a tribute. A tasteful touch but hopefully they'll skip her current look.
Surely I can't be the only one who thinks Madonna's style on her new album cover is a bit too Albert Square. Yes, it's a bit pervy and all that, but the hair, the big pants, the ridiculous over-sized bling - it's all a bit Pat Butcher. Or maybe there are still people out there who find that kind of thing sexy - possibly after a few too many pints of Churchill maybe.
Your comments on Madonna's new look >>
