Torsdag aften spillede The National et intimt og lukket promoshow for deres kommende album Trouble Will Find Me, i indergården med de karakteristiske røde lyskæder, på det hippe Hotel Michelberger på Warschauer Strasse i Fridericshain, Berlin. Her ‘Heavenfaced’, en ny sang der lover bedre end godt…

Her setlisten fra Michelberger:

Demons
Don’t Swallow the Cap
Heavenfaced
Graceless
Fireproof
Slipped
Sea of Love
Humiliation
Pink Rabbits
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Fake Empire
+ + +
I Should Live In Salt
Mr. November
Terrible Love

I en vild strøm af spændende udgivelser denne sene vinter, skal Mellemblond’s nye album Lysvågen – der udkom i går – absolut ikke overhøres. Kristoffer Munck’s musik og lyd har taget en langt lysere retning end sidst, hvilket slet ikke er nogen hæmsko for hans forfinede sangskrivning…

The National udsender 21. maj en længe ventet opfølger til den mesterlige High Violet. Albummet hedder Trouble Will Find Me og har følgende indhold:

I Should Live In Salt
Demons
Don’t Swallow The Cap
Fireproof
Sea Of Love
Heaenfaced
This Is The Last Time
Graceless
Slipped
I Need My Girl
Humiliation
Pink Rabbits
Hard To Find

Med den opsigtsvækkende fremkomst af en flok til da ukendte demo-optagelser i 2010, troede man vel, at det nu måtte være forbi med ‘nye’ gamle optagelser med The Smiths. Men se så hvad der skete i dag…

Here’s one that you haven’t heard before…

In May 1983 (exact date unknown), while preparing to record their first album, The Smiths ran through a selection of songs at a rehearsal in a room in manager Joe Moss’ jeans warehouse. The tape was recorded for Troy Tate, in order to give him something to work with before going into the studio. It’s pretty rough but considering it was only recorded on cassette with a stereo mic pointing into the room, the quality isn’t too bad. Morrissey’s vocals are a bit distorted – maybe singing too close to the mic or maybe the cassette mic was too close to the PA – but everything else is surprisingly clear. There is some tape flutter at various points.

I was lent the master cassette by a source close to the band who made the recording – let’s call him Pablo Cuckoo – in 1997, with a view to trying to put it out as a semi official release, as it was recorded before the band had signed to Rough Trade, so technically he had the rights to the recording. But a combination of the poor sound quality and threats from Warner Bros, meant that the idea was shelved. The master cassette was transferred to DAT at that time but the DAT copy disappeared shortly afterwards. To my surprise it resurfaced a few weeks ago while I was going through some boxes of old tapes. The quality is a lot better than I’d remembered too!

I’ve done a little work on the overall sound but only on the EQ, no compression has been applied. There is a possibility that some noise reduction was done when it was first transferred to DAT as you would expect more tape hiss, but I can’t be sure.

Anyway, it’s a good listen and must be one of the earliest recordings of the band, certainly in a non concert setting. Sadly there isn’t much between song chat, which could have been interesting…

Enjoy the tape and please circulate freely but don’t charge for it!

The man from Hojo, 2013

The Telegraph’s Dave McCormick ord om David Bowie’s nye single:

- It is the return of the master, showing every other rock and roll star, old or young, how things should be done.

Takket være Ronnie Rocket’s lynhurtige newmusic.com kan vi også her præsentere en coverversion af ‘The Stars (Are Out Tonight’, den kommende David Bowie-single, ingen af os endnu har hørt originalen af. Føles bagvendt at høre Momus’ fortolkning først, men i disse vilde nettider, må vi vende os til det uventede. Mon ikke denne version vil speede offentliggørelsen af David Bowie’s egen op?!? Her Bowie’s nye sang, taget med et gram salt…

Ny Bowie-single på vej. Vildt at kunne skrive de fem ord sammen igen. Men efter den næsten for perfekte genkomst i januar med ‘Where Are We Now’, er det sikkert klogt at forberede sig på skuffelse. ‘The Stars (Are Out Tonight)’ udsendes 26. februar. Mere end spændende. Here’s wishin’ & hopin’!

Deres nye album Push the Sky Away udsendes 18. februar. Førstesinglen ‘We No Who U R’ er ude og afsted 3. december, altså på mandag. Her albumtracklist…

We No Who U R
Wide Lovely Eyes
Water’s Edge
Jubilee Street
Mermaids
We Real Cool
Finishing Jubilee Street
Higgs Boson Blues
Push The Sky Away