Act Art is nearly here again, scroll down for that and the griffin vultures flying in on a daily basis. Is that right? Will Self? Self will and an anarchist view on the socialist answer to the banking collapse? Hang on, cross party effort, no yelling, Cameron the talking clown wants to sell us his nothing, didn’t the smug public schoolboy have a hand in giving us Black Wednesday? And the lack of sunspots? And then there’s ID cards from the other Tories, the red ones, Let loose the Hoxton Griffin Vultures and kick over the statues and astronomers who count sunspots have announced that 2008 has become the "blankest year" of the Space Age. Sunspot counts are at a 50-year low, signifying a deep minimum in the 11-year cycle of solar activity. “An act of negligence and vandalism that we may never recover from” said the officer, doubt has been vast and cast and last and does anything ever make sense? No Angels will be mentioned this week, red socks only and now we’re distracted by someone being so bold as to suggest Othello and vacant deckchairs on a floodlit beach. Let the senses preach, new moral cancer? Puppets drawn on celluloid and smog at the end of the end of the market square and things from back there that just landed here. Hands up, don’t be the only one, we’re all the same boat, let those questions unfold, everything we want dissipates. Hands up if you think you’re only one. There a hell of a lot of exciting music being made right now don’t you think? That is why you’re here right, music does still excite you right? 

That and blood all over your painting, it wasn’t meant to happen. Close examination needed, that and control. A tree with spooky desire and oh look, there’s almost too much good music for us to handle this week! These are the things that have been in our ears, please explore and if it sounds interesting then just hit the links and make your own minds up, our reviews and thoughts are mere signposts designed to guide you to the things you might like to feast on yourselves... don’t you just love the instant hit of the www. 

DEMO OF THE WEEK
GIRO JUNKIE – Gritty street folk songs and the politics of everyday life at the foot of it all, now please don’t go thinking life is all grim though. Three fine acoustic singer/songwriter downbeat songs of English hope and nothing is a waste of time. He’s from Stoke, but of a raw Levellers vibe, he may not thank us for saying that, but they did have an edge once, New Model Army as well, all with a raw poignant bite and a cynical smile. Three fine songs, second hand junkshop tunes and spot on production, all simple in a clever thought out considered heartfelt kind of way.  www.myspace.com/girojunkie

ALSO CHECK OUT
LEATHERHEAD – Opening shots from an industrial flavoured alternative rock band with big intent. Running on riffs and grooves rather than any real multi-dimensional body right now, medium sized slices of Nine Inch Nails tagged on to far bigger portions of Alice In Chains or Pearl Jam. All operating on the same level right now, same texture, same sense of space, same sound all the way through, until we hit the dark moody one at the end that is. A decent enough start, needs a little more personality and a dynamic before the Leeds band have anything to really shout about. Worth keep an ear on, they just might build on these solid foundations and if their own musical personality starts to dominate a little more and the influences a little less then there might be something good here sometime soon  – www.leatherheaduk.com

Last week's demo of the week - THE ATROCITY EXHIBIT / SEA SICK

Previous demo's of the week - COUNTRYSIDE / MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN / GRASSCUT / COP ON THE EDGE / WILD DOGS IN WINTER / THE LAZY DARLINGS / DEBUTANT / ARCS OF RED / LE GALAXIE / PERHAPS CONTRAPTION / BLACKLANDS / THE SANS PAREIL / THE HUNGRY I

DEMO REVIEW ARCHIVES

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

F*CKED UP – The Chemistry Of Common Life (Matador) - Oh born again and again, a perfect rush from the off, like all the best things you ever heard rolled in to one great big rushing head rush and you know I don’t really care if you think we’re getting too excessive with our hyperboiled dancing around the archtecture again - this is the shit and the chemistry and every damn thing you ever wanted from something you threw on at 3.20am on a jaded Wednesday morning. If you can’t get excited about chemistry like this then what the hell are you doing on our page in the first place!? They’re from Toronto and that are the most unfucked up thing we’ve encountered in a month of very long Sundays – we already knew that from previous encounters and, but this is like hearing them for the first time all over again. Flush the life in to your veins, this is your reality, take it and run, this is a life affirming rush headlong in to the glory of music and the uncommon chemistry of glorious life. Nihilistically good punk rock, like the best bits of Stooges only alive with beautiful clarity and waves of positive emotion and far from the riot causing chaos that probably is their reality. Everything about this band is a contradiction, a wonderful set of questions and answers that probably don’t match those questions in the first place. This maybe probably possibly almost certainly is the album of the year and I’m wired and the wise thing would be to stop now and come back tomorrow morning, see if we still feel like this. Good night. 
             Morning, did you have your toast? Want some more coffee? fire it up, where were we?  Twenty eight hours a day eight days a week, wooooooaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, sounds even better in the sober bite of watery Autumn sunlight. Waking us up and paint spilled on the floor and if there’s been a better album this year then I haven’t heard it. Hidden World  was good, some of those singles were even better, this is the best (and don’t any of you oh I liked their early stuff when no one else knew who they were merchants dare to disagree – we need bands like this all over our front pages). This is alive with impulsive hardcore idiosyncratic curveballs and killing jokes and hawk winds and the switched on awareness of the MC5 and soothed by the warm waves of naked Neu or Faust before they explode again. We have here a band who really matter, most bands don’t, most rock music is disposable, most bands can come and go, and then once is while something explodes with affirming No Pasaran vitality. Every note on this album is vital, this is proper real challenging thought-provoking adrenaline-rushing hardcore progressive punk rock and no, not the copy-cat uniform wearing variety. Swimming through the flood of compromise, embrace them, feed off them, feed with them, feed them. Ferociously inventive, feral challenges, intelligent construction, more Hawklords than Hawkwind, iconoclastic – incredible musicianship, front line song making, first rate tune building craft, political fire lighting, a vital sense of theatre and an inspiring must and you know, I don’t really care if this is sounds like more mad rantings and nothing near a proper music review, sometimes the knee deep reptiles and the blood and the swipes from the trenches and the underground train lines just need to be stomped through and music and bands and reinvigorating moments like this are why we do this thing and if you don’t like that then f**k off and drown in average sound. The chemistry of common life? Bring it all on, Royal Swan and everything else... Fucked up are the most vital band in the world right now, rush out and get this album. Hands up if you think you’re only one, we’ve all got our goddamn hands up, I could go one and on and on  (and on), album of the year. End of. - www.matadorrecords.com/fucked_up

Meanwhile this just in: Fucked Up frontman Father Damian has responded to criticism of his tendency to appear on stage with a bleeding head. He told Xfm: "People have forgotten that blood-letting in rock n roll is a tradition. I feel like it's a baton that we seemed to have dropped in this modern era of rock n roll. If Fucked Up is doing nothing else, we're picking up that baton for rock n roll again. It's sad that I do it because it's really pathetic, but it's also a point of pride. I'm willing to bleed for the kids out there". Asked if the blood thing would put off more mainstream rock fans, he pointed out he's not in a band who've ever gone out of their way to make people like them. He continued: "I'm a 300 pound hairy bald man, we're a band of ragamuffins, I scream and we're called Fucked Up. Mass appeal is something we've never aimed for".
 

ALBUM OF THE WEEK 2 NISENNENMONDAI – Tori/Neji (Smalltown Supersound) – An instrumental trio from Tokyo, Japan - John Stanier from Battles declared these tiny diminutive women to be incredible and said that they made his band look like idiots in comparison. You may have seen them in Hella’s tour video DVD Concentration Face thing. This is their first release outside of Japan, their two EPs pulled together as one rather immediate debut album. All kinds of hints of things in here, nothing that can be pinned on them as an obvious influence though. They have lots of Hella, they have the edgy shuffle of The Pop Group, the fluid flow of Battles, the Kraut flavours of Neu, the new wave of Peru Ubu, the free rock no-wave of a more restrained Flying Luttenbachers, they have bass lines that taste of the Birthday Party as they melt tight groove and organic industrial forward movement to their other rock adventure and their genuine progressiveness. Stripped down and blissfully raw, hypnotically good and all over the place in terms of rail jumping time signatures. Never awkward though, challenging yes, but never awkward to listen to. Raw positive post-punk repetition, clever shape-shifting and never once letting up the relentless thrill or the attention demanding of it all. Real tunes that lead you to crescendos of delight and yelps of pleasure. Oh look, we really should look, I honestly didn’t, they have a track called Pop Group and another called Sonic Youth (and one called This Heat) – wonderful, brilliant, drool drool, dance like a fool – highly recommended musical creativity and I do suspect they’d make pretty much anyone who ever shared a stage with them look like idiots. www.nisennenmondai.com / www.smalltownsupersound.com

ALBUM OF THE WEEK 3 HILDE MARIE KJERSEM – A Killer For That Ache (Rune Grammofon) – The Norwegian singer/songwriter’s album really does sneak up on you, an album that sounds like it sets out to be straight forward and rather strikingly simple and then just when you think you know, the little details start to catch you. Hang on, that bit sounded good, that little tune that’s running underneath her clear concise voice, that bit sounds like one of Efterklang’s parades, that bit there like one of Sea Nymphs fragile moves. Yes, detail that really is that good, Sea Nymph good – beautiful melancholic seduction and an absolutely perfect voice – angelic delight, whispered songs, lullabies, swipes of restrained Danny Elfman, jazz-noir, Sally Oldfield, Leonard Cohen, David Lynch, Kate Bush, more parades and more sea nymphs and delicate delicate jazz and whispers and gentle brushing of strings . She’s from Oslo and that ache is so so good. There appears to be a bit of a concept album here, characters and disguises, twists and plays and all so mysteriously silky and so so beautiful, beautifully intricate and yes, fascinating and full of grace and such beautiful beautiful simple detail. That bit in Fantasy is so Sea Nymphs, almost disturbingly so. Minimal melancholic beauty, perfect breath taking melancholic beauty – www.myspace.com/hildemariekjersem x

ALSO CHECK OUT AGASKODO TELIVEREK – Psycho Goulash (AdAadAt) – Oh look this is getting ridiculous, too much good music! Too many garbage pale crocodiles and you have to check out a band when they have a song called Bastard Cabbage don’t you? The London based Hungarian accountants are back with a second unhinged album. Sctatchy guitar and digital bite and cut up fluidity and wrong pop so right it must surely be wrong? Japanese girl singer? Deerhoof meets Herzoga? Beefheart, Gogol Bordello, Gentle Giant and another hideous seething pit of weirdness and awkward tantrums and bits of off the edge sugar sweet progressive j-pop and European no wave new wave and digital insanity messing with prog rock but nothing like any of that. And as for their dress sense, let’s not go there, we’ll stick with the insects and frenetic franticness of it all. Guitar based high octane mash ups and going off and things and manic contradictions and even bits of early IQ and ever so very good and arrghhhhhhhhhhhh, melt down.... – www.myspace.com/agaskodoteliverek  or www.adaadat.com x

GERIATRIC UNIT – Distance And Damage (Boss Tuneage) – oh yes, another set of uncompromising explosions from the Nottingham crew and you know what, we could pretty much run last year’s album review all over again, I love this band! Life half over? Nah mate, some of us bottom feeding scum are going to live forever, a constant angry pissed-off thorn in your side. What we have here is a bunch of old school got-the-scars been there, done-it-all UK hardcore punk rock originals. People who’ve done time in fine bands like Heresy, Iron Monkey and Hard To Swallow - people who really should know better then to be blasting out fast raw straight up real deal proper hardcore by now. Twelve tracks that are over before your pot of tea has brewed and a bunch of middle aged men showing the upstarts and the hairstyles how to do it properly. Old fast loud rules (and so does Distance And Damage) – this ain’t just some 80’s rehash nostalgia trip cash in - no, this is a proper kick in the teeth at the arse end of cynical 2008 - still raging against the machine and needed now as much as they ever were. You know, some glossy mainstream journo who runs a label and likes to spout on about DIY and punkrock and unity (when it suits him and his marketing plan) sent us a barrage of amusing abuse the other week - told us were nothing but bottom feeders with a bad attitude and we should have figured out by now that punk rock was merely another convenient genre and nothing but a pigeonhole - just a marketing tool for record labels to push their product with – maybe it is? Maybe that's all it ever was? What the f do us loud mouth opinionated scumbags down here feeding on the bottom know about anything? Hey, we may know jack, but we sure do know that this is a blasting slice of righteous good-for-your-health hardcore punk rock (all of their lives have been dedicated to this). Does it all amount to nothing in the end? No! Go grab yourself a rather fine antidote to all the drivel that masquerades as this, that and the other. Twelve more slices of faster than fast undiluted proper angry raging UK hardcore punk rock, woof woof bark bark babble babble – it is indeed your hate on which we feed – yes, we like it down here, bottom feeders one and all and no one will notice we ran the same review or that they pretty much repeated last year’s mighty fine album. Highly recommended  -  www.myspace.com/geriatricunit or www.bosstuneage.com DAVID GRUBBS – An Optimist Notes The Dust (Drag City) – David Grubbs, probably best known for his leading role in Chicago avant band Gastr Del Sol, and another rather refined solo album from the prolific, creative and always interesting artist. This time we’re exploring silence and delicate wordplay, once again a musical world where nothing can be taken as expected and landscapes subtly shift from song-based lyrical compositions to almost field drones and by the end of the intriguing album, little more that organic electronic murmur - hums that have you wondering where he’s gone more than where he’s going. Resonating sound art and an album that takes time to reveal itself and the many simple uncluttered rewarding spacious minimal levels, crafted in still light, blue life and the harmless optimistic beauty of dust. An inspiring album, a strong, slightly disorientating someone languid and rather beautiful album. www.myspace.com/davidgrubbsbluechopsticks THE LOVVERS – Think (Wichita) – Seven track thirteen minute statement of some kind of intent or miscontent (or discontent) or something or other from Lovvers and all wired up and Trumpton Riots and scratchy and busy and Les Savy Fav and didn’t we say things and play things before? One Inch Badger and cutting to the bones and  oh look, English messed up Butthole Surfers and Germs and blank generation Richard Hell and back wipers and vipers and snipers and everything must go and someone get a message out to Captain Flak ‘cause the lads have got a plan to get rid of him and it’s spreading like pneumonia and doesn’t look like going down. Seven slices of no fun and wasted youth and cheap talk and fast and furious tight-rope walks that might just get to the other side of the pretty vacant stare over there and laugh out loud. Good goo, goo is always good, what did your expect  - www.myspace.com/letscommunicate NECK – Come Out Fighting (Golf) - County Holloway’s finest back with another fine album of dirty London town Celtic punk goodness. Psycho-ceilidh punk they like to call it. More of their cock-sure defiance and more of their electric bite and their traditional flutes and punk’d up reels – real ones again, real reels, Irish folk punks, real ones (again). We like Neck lots, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again (and again), down yer neck! They’re a blast live, especially if you catch them in a field, actually nah, they’re even better in a packed North London pub. Now we could cut to the chase and jut tell you they really have in together now and they’re easily as good as The Pogues ever got and  if you’ve a taste for that then you need this fine fine album, indeed we could cut to the chase even more and say that with this new album they may just be sounding better than ever with their swirling spirit and merry ploughboy tin-whistles and pipes and banjos and biting guitars and their spot on finely-voiced political polemic. The beautiful spirit of Irish defiance, a fine mix of traditional folk and self-penned punk rock goodness that brings out the Sean in me. Like we said before, they go to all the places bands like Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys do, they do it with a little bit more first hand closer to the bone reality though. Neck’s finest moments yet and another fine hooley of an album from the best Irish punk band in the world. - www.myspace.com/neckireland  find it via www.plastichead.com THE STILLS – Oceans Will Rise (Arts & Crafts) – Rejuvenated and ready once more so we’re told. Uplifting slightly alternative mainstream ear-friendly indie pop rock. Apples in their trees and all harmlessly pleasant enough in this Indian summer sunshine and all well and good should you feel like basking in their polished contentment. – www.myspace.com/thestills    .

MAX TUNDRA – Parallax Error Beheads You (Domino) – Joe Jackson and Stepping Out and Michael Jackson and squeaky clean digital laptop pop and sharp-edged electro funk and pop pop pop and pop again. Bright shiny happy digital pop music for shiny happy people holding hands. What we mean is this is all rather enjoyable and yes he does have those slighty eccentric Zappa slants and Ben Folds flavours and part precisely played, part precisely programmed and all wholesome and good. Genuinely different electronica that’s ultimately carried by the attention to detail and the refreshingly clean cut of it all and, on days when your attention is tuned in right, then all very nice and happy and shiny and...  www.myspace.com/maxtundra ADEBISI SHANK – This Is The Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank (The Richter Collective) – Clearly very Battles/Don Caballero influenced, maybe just a little too influenced? They’re from Ireland, this is their tight and well played debut album – all very very Don Cab and as good at it as they are, we king of need something a little more than just another set of Battles impersonations. Adebisi Shank are clearly capable of more, let us hope this is just a good start and that first Rush album is just a Led Zep tribute, there is hope here isn’t there? Bu then again are they capable of anything more? The more we lsiten the more we realise that everything is repeated a far too predictable four times and everything is so obvious and basic and oh come on, surely this is just far too Don Cab and far too obvious to be taken seriously, the Status Quo of post rock...  www.myspace.com/adebisishank CYNDEE LEE RULE – Ufosmosis (self release) – Space rock flavoured banana moon tinged Instrumental electric violin music that comes seasoned by Hawkwind and spiced by Gong and especially by Hillage – artwork by Daevid Allen, cover of Assassins of Allah. She’s from Philadelphia, seems she’s collaborated with people such as Harvey Bainbridge and Tim Blake – www.myspace.com/cyndeeleerule PROJECT MOONBEAM – Project Moonbeam (self release) – More Tim Blake and Steve Hillage flavours, this time Cyndee Lee Rule collaborating with Project Moonbeam main-man, composer and multi instrumentalist Chris Fournier and some very studio based instrumental digital new age easy going prog flavoured creativity. Think Tangerine Dream, Gong and such – www.myspace.com/projectmoonbeam DEVIL’S GIFT – Devil’s Gift (Tieforuck Musik) - Slick modern ferocious when it wants to be melodic slick female-fronted confrontational nu-metal. Her name is Lennon Murphy and she’s currently being sued by Yoko Ono for having the nerve to use her own name, which kind of makes us like this more that we probably would have done, nah, we like it anyway. Well produced pounding busy full-bodied metal and she sounds like she not someone to mess with, bit of a Coptic Rain feel actually. The band is from Orlando Florida, they’re heading for the UK for live dates in December - www.myspace.com/devilsgift

QUEEN – The Cosmos Rocks (Parlophone)  - Now come on, what are we really expected to do with this? Does anyone really care what we think of a new Queen album? Hey, it landed in the post so I guess someone thinks it matters that we react in some way or other, the economy is at stake and at times like this we must all pull together. That Brian May called us once to yell about something we’d said about a band he liked, had a complete hissyfit on the phone he did, you could hear is curly mop straighten as he yelled, most unexpected turn of events. We’ll just throw it on like every other album, demo, single that turns up here, suck it and see. Queen were heroes to some but they never meant jack to me, Paul Rodgers on the other hand sometimes did (even in The Firm). Opens up with a bluesy hard rock pub rock thing that comes and goes, second track sounds like a preposterous Pendragon out-take. Paul Rodgers has, in former glorious times, been one of the greatest ever rock voices, he’s a blues rock singer though. He has a voice that drips hard rock honey and Queen are not in any shape or form a blues rock band – there they go with that handclap thing of theirs right now just to prove the point and this is oil and water, this is wrong. This is sister-kissing wrong. Look, I can appreciate Queen even if I never liked them that much but Paul Rodgers in Queen and them trying to accommodate a classic blues rock singer is just wrong wrong wrong, both parties are compromised. Robbie Williams in Queen maybe, George Michael did it well, he seems to have a lot of time on his hands. Oh dear, those lyrics, sub Cliff Richard moment happening right now - We Believe - kind of thing that makes you want to start a war and lob a few bombs, weren't there with the love and peace atttitude when they played Sun City tha ttime were they.... Oh dear, oh no, Some Things That Glitter is as far as we can get, this is preposterously bad and it really is unreasonable to expect us to stick around for the whole experience if this is the kind of thing they’re inflicting on us three quarters of the way through. Dynamite with a laser beam and all that but there is only one thing that glitters and maresnests apart and going down to the centre of the town to do a bit of stealing or whatever. Everything about the combination of Paul Rodgers and Queen is just so so wrong, really wasn’t expecting it to be quite as sickeningly vile as this though and what with the lack of Sunspots and the credit crunch and anyway hasn’t this been out a couple of weeks now? Only just landed here and we somehow resisted the temptation to go rushing down to megastore on day of release to buy one on acount of the rain and other things that gary glitter and the cosmos not really rocking and why are these things sent to us and why are we telling you about it and there’s a place just south of witches valley where they say the sun don’t go... Did I ever tell you about the time when there was this bath with silver rails just right for feet and the view was amazing and then the rain came and i know you’ve given up reading this bit now. That Japanese Queen tribute band we put on in the Falcon that time were good though, Kween! “OK London, everyone crap your hands!”  I met the Queen once, she didn’t seem that impressed...

SEVEN NAUTICAL MILES – Every Ocean Reversed (Sound Devastation) - Why does the singer sound like he’s straining to take a dump and having lots of trouble doing so?  Sounds like he’s in a lot of pain there, good dose of cod liver oil or something, that’s what he needs, the Queen would sort it out, or that Japanese tribute band. Some kind of moody post rock and with all those crushing long bits of Godspeed and Neurosis and stuff and whatnot and won’t he ever shut up? If there is beauty to be found here than the view is obscured by the one-dimensional voice. Thing is he can sing, took him quarter of the way in to the restraint of track five before he did mind you, by that time we were looking for our hat and coat. Another one of those moody chin-stroking earnest Neurosis bands then, I do suspect this band could be so so much more than just that if they had the guts to be. www.sevennauticalmiles.com or www.sounddevastation.co.uk
 

Last week's album of the week - GRAILS / BEATGLIDER Previous album's of the week - UNIVERS ZERO / CONSTANTINES / YOUNG WIDOWS / AMANDA PALMER / LUSTMORD / SLIPKNOT / HEY COLOSSUS / ROSE KEMP / VESSELS / ELEPHANT 9 / DOSH / KAYO DOT / SAY BOK GWAI / THE KINGSIZE FIVE / SCORCH TRIO / THE REAL McKENZIES / VILE IMBECILES x

ALBUM REVIEW ARCHIVES

Shearwater's latest album 'Rook' is out now.  Read the Organ review of the album here or go explore over at www.matadorrecords.com/shearwater. They'll be returning to Europe in November and playing three UK shows, one of which is at the lovely St. Giles Church in London. The UK dates: 22 Nov - St Giles in the Fields Church, London, 23 Nov - Taylor John's House, Coventry, 24 Nov - Komedia, Brighton.
 

LIVE REVIEW ARCHIVES

SINGLE OF THE WEEK 2  THE QUARRY – A Flame To Light The Dark (Home Of The Brave) – No messing here, debut EP and five tracks out of South London that‘ll kick your door down, get right in there and do just what they need to, then get right out again before you, your dog or anyone else has got a retaliation punch in. A mix of 80’s thrash, early Metallica rip crunch, pre Bruce Maiden guitar harmonies and some brutal hardcore punk metal shoutalong steaming screaming what’s-yer-fuggin-problem street punk. Proper crossover olden days torn black jeans thrash metal and nuclear assaults and onslaughts and good things like that. Same brutally honest oldschool metal vibe as SSS or Municipal Waste, little more of a hardcore Minor Threat streetpunk edge though and relentlessly good for your heart, soul and beautifully scuzzed up mind – done just right, you’ll love it to bits -  www.myspace.com/thequarrymusic or www.myspace.com/homeofthebraverecords x

ALSO CHECK OUT

WHEN GRAVITY FAILS – Born Again (Astro:Nought) – Born again? Well the London five piece have certainly taken it up a notch or two with their finest release yet. Those mountainous riffs, edgy alternative hard rock that’s part Killing Joke darkness, part Soundgarden riff building, part Pulkas punching and part something all of their own. When Gravity Fails have been doing it rather well since 2005, the people involved have been around, they have a previous track record, this is serious stuff, these people have done their time, you don’t get to be this good overnight. Serous alternative hard rock from the London town undergrowrth – www.myspace.com/whengravityfails

WAYTER – Marco Polo EP (Naked Tree) – A handsome duck and euphoric sounds and a band from London made up from people from Argentina, Devon, Spain and Japan – we do like living in London and I guess once more, if we must call this anything (mere words you understand) then we’d call this post-rock, nothing obvious though, just intelligent warmth and a new band wishing to challenge themselves as well as you and me. Slint-edged intelligent colourful accomplished alternative indie other rock, four impressive tracks and a quiet intensity, a calm storm of inviting ambitious warmth. Brooding gentle goodness and screams floating down on the big breeze – www.myspace.com/wayter

TRIPWIRES – In Times Of Trouble (download) – Pointy feisty blustery English alternative indie guitar rock, nothing that different to a lot of things we’ve all heard in recent times but Tripwires do deliver it all with a certain amount of well structured intelligent Biffy-like substance. Released as a one track free download in October 20th (does that make it a single? I don’t know, I still want b-sides and artwork and something in my hand, can you download heart and soul?) – www.tripwires.co.uk

GEMMA RAY – Rise Of The Runts (Bronzebat) – Twinkling warm-hearted blissful all-the-time-in-the-world pop-noir that heads hand-in-hand in a rather accomplished way towards left-field country-rock to write a name in the sand before touching some kind of very mellow 60’s Shangri-la – www.myspace.com/gemmaraymusic

IPSO FACTO – Six And Three Quarters/Circle Of Fifths (Mute Irregulars) – Real maths then, not really but it does add up delightfully and talking of 60’s Shangri-la.... Big ear-catching organs and sinister monochromatic English psychedelia. Four stylish Essex girls with bobs and minis and an English horror movie undertone to their dark-edged 60’s flavoured melancholic tuned-in uncoiling rich rewarding garage pop. Six And Three is heavily hypnotic and demandingly dark - big voices, big organs and things in between the black and whites, Circle Of Fifths is more downbeat with that noir count... worth all the current fuse, tune and float down – www.myspace.com/ipsofactomyspace

Last week's single of the week - F**K BUTTONS / THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF US

Previously - FRIGHTENED RABBIT / THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART / DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN / PRINTS / PETALS ON A WET BLACK BOUGH / LITTLE JACKIE / MARY EPWORTH AND THE JUBILEE BAND / ART IN EXILE / MOGWAI / Z's / ONE DAY AS A LION / SON VER & ELEPHANT LEAF / FIGHT LIKE APES / THE BRUTE CHORUS / PORT O’BRIEN / VESSELS

SINGLE REVIEW ARCHIVES

PREVIOUSLY - TEMPORARY RESIDENCE / WOODBOX GANG / ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES / EX-GIRL / DELIA DERBYSHIRE /  F**KED UP / THE REVELLIONS / LIZ PHAIR / OASIS / THE CLOUD ROOM / HERZOGA / THE MELVINS / SHEARWATER / THE REAL McKENZIES / VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR / SIGOR ROS / VASECTOMY EGGS NAILER / FAT WRECK, ME FIRST... / THE DANDY WARHOLS  / SKIN GRAFT RECORDS / WIRE / BUTTHOLE SURFERS  / CARDIACS

Previously: BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES / CLIFF / KILLING JOKE / THE SAVAGE RESURRECTION / BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB / DOOM / LIFE OF AGONY / DEAD HEAD / DAVID BOWIE / STUPIDS / AMEBIX / BLONDIE / THOR / STUMP / KOENJIHYAKKEI / SEBADOH / THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS  / SUN EATS HOURS / LEGION OF PARASITES / ALABAMA 3 / AHLEUCHATISTAS

 “Act Art celebrates difference, supports cross-discipline ways of working and offers a safe environment to exhibit work in all disciplines, including live art, performance, video, installation, painting, sculpture, drawing and photography, with a particular emphasis on works that are experimental, radical, confrontational and non-mainstream.  Act Art programmes work by a wide spectrum of artists who are united by an interest in the body and  ranges from undergraduate students to established performance artists.  We believe in bringing emerging artists together alongside more established practitioners in an attempt to create a dialogue between artists and their work, as well as staging an event that is open to everyone and alienates nobody”. 

ACT ART 6 - DYING FOR IT! 100 ARTISTS - 1 VENUE - 1 NITE 50 FILMS/VIDEOS - 30 LIVE ARTISTS + DJS Curated by Oliver Frost & Marc Massive. 

Last year Act Art was jam packed full of good things, one of the creative highs of the year. Read the Organ review of last year's Act Art here. 

Act Art 6 happens in London on 7th November 2008. 7.30pm through to 5am over there at London Bridge 

The 6th annual ACT ART event theme DYING FOR IT! Addressing what’s wrong with the world today... for example negative moral or ethical judgments, cruel, unjust and selfish human behaviour, war and diseases like Cancer and Aids. Poverty, famine and global warming caused by human actions, CCTV, censorship, celebrity culture, and the whole media circus that not only provides zero privacy to today’s people in the main stream public eye such as Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears, but also play a part in early loss of lives notably Princess Diana, Anna Nicole Smith, and so on... even Heath Ledger who although he was not hounded as such by the press, his feelings and unease with today’s media invasion played a part in his demise. Explore Act Art over at www.actart.co.uk
 

PREVIOUSLY - DAMIEN HURST / JOE MEEK / IMPROV EVERYWHERE / AARON KRATEN / HURRA TORPEDO / BOOK: THE STOOGES – A JOURNEY / JUNK SALES:SLAVES OF NEW YORK / BITTER PIE / SF ZINE FAIR / GIANT PAW – ART CARD SERIES / L. GABRIELLE PENABAZ @ FIERCE / ZINE: LIGHTS GO OUT #1 / LESS THAN JAKE

Credit crunch or not - banks have lent £400,000 to one Spanish activist who then promptly passed the loot on to various campaigning groups. "What could be better than robbing the ones who rob us and distributing the money among the groups which are denouncing this situation and building alternatives?" asked Enric Dura. Acting under the pseudonym, Robin Hood, Enric persuaded a total of 39 banks to lend his fake TV production company cash, even soliciting the help of a government agency to broker a loan on one occasion. The outlaw then promptly published details of his blag in 200,000 'how to do it' newsletters distributed by his mates in and around Barcelona. Bankers were none too pleased. "It is not permissible for someone to laugh at the system like this," commented one, Jordi Mestre, director general of the Caixa Sabadell savings bank. Except it is - so far the police have not received a single request from any of the embarrassed banks to track Enric down. He is believed to have fled the country - for Sherwood Forest no doubt – and presumably used a 'Mr R. Hood' credit card to buy his ticket!

Schhhhhneeeeews? What's that? - go see - www.schnews.org.uk

libcom.org is a resource for all people who wish to improve their lives, their communities and their working conditions.

Meanwhile to download (free) and watch a selection of SchMOVIES short films click
here - www.schnews.org.uk/schmovies

THE ORGAN MAILING LIST -  If you want to be on the ORGAN/ORG Records e.mail list then you need to get in touch E.MAIL HERE.
 

ORGAN 275 - GRAILS, BEATGLIDER, THE ATROCITY EXHIBIT, TO THE BONES, SEA SICK, F**K BUTTONS, STE McCABE, THE BARDO, GENTLE GIANT, THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF US, HANSON BOTHERS, RUMORS OF GEHENNA, ACID MOTHER TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO, JMC, P.G.LOST, UGLY STICK, A TEXTBOOK TRAGEDY, NO RETURN, TRIVIUM,  AMANDA PALMER, THE DeBRETTS,  TEMPORARY RESIDENCE...

ORGAN 274 - UNIVERS ZERO, HAUSCHKA, COUNTRYSIDE, MANIQUI LAZER, MAB, MILK ROAR, HYDRA, MAGICIAN, KIMYA DAWSON, STRIBORG, ROSE KEMP, VOLBEAT, THE BOBBY McGEES,  THE MAY FIRE, MOOSE FACTORY, PRO-PAIN, TRIP LAVA, A POETIC YESTERDAY, LORD BELIEL, FRIGHTENED RABBIT, FROM PLAN TO PROGRESS, BOWERBIRDS, BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES, DAMIEN HURST, CLIFF'S SINGLE, ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES... 

ORGAN 273 - CONSTANTINES, WOODBOX GANG, RA RA RIOT, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, PERHAPS CONTRAPTION, AMANDA PALMER, BYE BYE CANDY, OF THE I, RUDE MECHANICALS, ANARCHISTWOOD, GIRLSCHOOL, ICED EARTH, ICED EARTH, BLOOD CEREMONY, TONAL OAK, SOULS, FALLEN, PURE INC, BULLET, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN, THE TAMBORINES, EX-GIRL, DESTINATION:OBLIVION, JOE MEEK....

ORGAN 272 - YOUNG WIDOWS, AMANDA PALMER, EHNAHRE, GRASSCUT, PRINTS, THE FRENCH QUARTER, POPE JOAN, THE VERVE, BUFFALO KILLERS, MISERATION, DRAGONFORCE, THE MONO EFFECT, BONKERSFEST ‘08, NOUGHT, GERTUDE, TO THE BONES, ROLLINS, BOBBY BARKER, ONE TRUE DOG, BLUEZZ INTOXICATED, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, F*CKED UP, IMPROV EVERYWHERE, CLIFF... 

ORGAN 271 - LUSTMORD, SLIPKNOT, LOVELY LITTLE GIRLS, AARON KRATEN, FIGHT LIKE APES, TOY GUN COWBOY, IMMERSION COMPOSITION SOCIETY, PICTURES PAINT WORDS, LITTLE JACKIE, RUBY THROAT, TO THE BONES, THE MIRIMAR DISASTER, AGRYPNIE, CITY 13, LORDS OF BASTARD, THE DONKEYS, GOLDBLADE, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS: BRENDAN CANNING, BLAND BLADEN, EUREKA MACHINES, BRIAN WILSON, PETALS ON A WET BLACK BOUGH, NARRATION, KISSING KALINA, THE REVELLIONS, KILLING JOKE... 

ORGAN 270 - HEY COLOSSUS, ROSE KEMP, MOTORHEAD, COP ON THE EDGE, GNOMES OF ZURICH, LITTLE JACKIE, JOY OF SEX, GNAW THEIR TONGUES, GEOFF SOULE, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, JAGUAR LOVE, HELLFIRE, CRUISER, THE CHAIR, GORGOROTH, SONNY, REGURGITATOR, LAGWAGON, MILLENNIA, UNBUNNY, TZUN TZU, SUPENIK, ZEBRAHEAD, MOURNING RISE, SINISTER, THE BIKINI BEACH BAND, ZAG AND THE COLOURED BEADS, WHIMWISE, SUSAN GEORGE BOOTH, SERGEANT BUZFUZ, POPE JOAN, FOUR DEAD IN OHIO, THE VIEW FROM BELOW, THE INCONSOLABLES, THE SAVAGE RESURRECTION, LIZ PHAIR, BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB... 

ORGAN 269 - VESSELS, DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, ELEPHANT 9, ART IN EXILE, WILD DOGS IN WINTER, DISSENTIENT REVOLT, TONAL OAK, THE STRIPPER PROJECT, GUTZ, 31KNOTS, INDIAN JEWELRY, KASAI ALLSTARS, NEW MECANICA, LONELY GHOSTS, AGNOSTIC MOUNTAIN GOSPEL CHOIR, RYE, RYE, LAST HARBOUR, THOSE WHO BRING THE TORTURE, RE-RENAISSANCE OF THE CELTIC HARP, BEN MARWOOD, VALKYR, EGEBAMYASI, THE CLOUD ROOM, HURRA TORPEDO, FIGHT LIKE APES...

ORGAN 268 - DOSH, VILE IMBECILES, QUEEN ADREENA, Z's, MOGWAI, DDD, ISOR, PURE REASON REVOLUTION, BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, HEAVY HEAVY LOW LOW, SOUTH, SILVERY, THE LAZY DARLINGS, THRACIA, LATE OF THE PIER, FANTASY BAR, BLACK FLAME, THE VERVE, HERZOGA, THE STOOGES, FIGHT LIKE APES...

ORGAN 267 - KAYO DOT, SHEARWATER, OXBOW, HARVEY MILK, ONE DAY AS A LION, KONG, DEBUTANT, IDIOT SAVANT, THE JET BOYS, NADJA, THOMAS FUNCTION, SEBASTIAN BACH, ORGHIA, SANCTORUM, GROUND MOWER, DISARM, RON FRANKLIN, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, SABATRON, KAROSHI BROS, THE VIVIANS, THE HAIR, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, THE EMERGENCY, DOOM. BIFFY CLYRO... 

ORGAN 266 - FIGHT LIKE APES, WE ARE SCIENTISTS, SAY BOK GWAI, THE KINGSIZE FIVE, THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, SON VER & ELEPHANT LEAF, DAVID CRONENBERG’S WIFE, TRIPWIRES, DRAGONFORCE, LIFE OF AGONY, SCUL HAZZARDS, SOULFLY, RON ATHEY, ARCS OF RED. EPIPHANY, SHADE EMPIRE, YETI RAIN, SCHIZO FUN ADDICT, FAITH, SOFIA, LAVONDYSS, ROSE HILL DRIVE...

ORGAN 265 - LE GALAXIE, FIGHT LIKE APES, SCORCH TRIO, SUSAN GEORGE BOOTH, THE REAL McKENZIES, THE MARCHES, 28 DEGREES TAURUS, GHOSTED, PHANTOM FLOAT, ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMIES, Marie Vesco, Bonkersfest.. 

ORGAN 264 - VILE IMBECILES, THE LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH, BODIES OF WATER, ALGHAZANTH, TEASING LULU, THIS IS RADIO FREEDOM, BLAZE BAYLEY, EMPYROS, PLASTIC HEROES, THE BRUTE CHORUS, PORT O’BRIEN, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, DEAD HEAD, junk stalls, bath bombs... 

ORGAN 263 - FIGHT LIKE APES, LE GALAXIE, CAPILLARY ACTION, PEDRO, THE PSYKE PROJECT, SERPENTONE, MOTORPSYCHO, SLIM CESSNA’S AUTO CLUB, ALLA, HARVEY MILK, ZENITHAL, L.A. GUNS, VESSELS, LESS THAN JAKE, DAVID BOWIE, STUPIDS, NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS, THE 1990'S, HONKEYFINGER, SOUNDSHOK, TV SMITH, RICHARD LLOYD, THE DODOS, JAPANCAKES, SOULFLY, GLORIA CYCLES, VASECTOMY EGGS NAILER, SIGOR ROS...

ORGAN 262 - LAYMAR, WIRE. THE ROTTED, COLDPLAY, VERJNUARMU, THE COKE DARES, STONE GODS, URN, VILE IMBECILES, ROYAL TREATMENT PLANT, JESSE MALIN, AMEBIX, BLONDIE, PERHAPS CONTRAPTION, DOUBLE HANDSOME DRAGONS, KANEDA, WAVES UNDER WATER, SOSUMI, IRVINE WELSH PRESENTS THE BOOK SLAM, BITTER PIE and the SF ZINE FAIR

ORGAN 261 - MARIE VESCO, RESONANCE FM IS TEN, BLACKLANDS, STRAY DOG CAFE, HIGHTOWN CROWS, WE THE FACELESS, HEAR O ISRAEL – A PRAYER CEREMONY IN JAZZ, GRAND MAGUS, Q WITHOUT U, FREE KITTEN, MAMBO MANTIS, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, GUNSLINGER, BLACK LIGHT BURNS, CALABRESE, SIX REASONS TO KILL, GIANT PAW, DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN, THOR, CROCUS, HADDONFIELD, ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES, FAT WRECK.....

ORGAN 260 - RUDE MECHANICALS, OPETH, BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES, THE SANS PAREIL, RABBIT SEASON, LITHURGY, TASHA FIGHTS TIGERS, RING, MOSS, ZERO HOUR, TREES, MOCKINGBIRD, AKPHAEZYA, THE MORE I SEE, HISTORY OF GUNS, AMBERIAN DAWN, NUESTROS DERECHOS, ZAG AND THE COLOURED BEADS,  WIZARDS OF TWIDDLY, STUMP, THE DANDY WARHOLS, THE HYENAS, AIRBOURNE, NO 2 PAY 2 PLAY....