Ahead of the release of their second album, Future This, The Big Pink have recorded a set of five songs as part of the 4AD Sessions series. Bringing to life the anthemic qualities of the new album, the session is a showcase of the unabashed step towards stadium dynamics the band have made on Future This, while also displaying the often-curveball influences that continue to underpin their best work.

Filmed in 3 Mills Studios, the location was to have a coincidental resonance with the music. Based on Three Mill Island in Bromley-by-Bow, the island is London’s oldest surviving industrial centre with evidence to suggest that the mills it houses were listed in the Domesday Book. The grand historical associations and JG Ballard-esque setting appears fitting of the darkened, industrial undertones that course through even the most pop moments of The Big Pink’s music. Channeling the epic, immersive and otherworldy feel of the new album, the stark backdrop of the warehouse-like space was coupled with lasers used in a structural way to frame the band and change the physical surroundings.

Playing several tracks from Future This, alongside spiritual cousin “Velvet”, taken from the first album, the session captures what makes The Big Pink such an intriguing band. Effortlessly moving between the outre sounds of the underground and their love for shameless pop hooks, the band display the full scale of their creative ambitions.

Tracklisting

1. ‘Stay Gold’
2. ‘Hit The Ground (Superman)’
3. ‘Velvet’
4. ‘Rubbernecking’
5. ‘Give It Up’

For those of you who resided in Sydney, Australia in the Summer of 1992/93, Evan Dando’s presence was a ubiquitous one. Whether playing sold out shows with The Lemonheads or drums with local supergroup Godstar, you literally couldn’t walk into a bar without tripping over him. It was good times all round.

While all of this (and more) was going on, Dando recorded a set of songs in his Bondi hotel room featuring tracks that would later appear on Come On Feel The Lemonheads, along with covers of Love Positions and Smudge songs. Having recently unearthed the cassette, Dando deemed it worthy of release and the album, Hotel Sessions, is due out on January 9, 2012.

Dando explains…

“I’ve always wanted to make an “Album” for 53 dollars – Walkman 50, tape 3 bucks – Oh to record live to cassette, master it and put it out … I have finally done it! I recorded this here biscuit in and around either December ’92, or Feb ’93. I remember it was a Sunday night in Bondi – the night the ‘car enthusiasts’ come out. I had just returned to Australia – my home away from home – from our first Japanese tour. Life was good. I made this tape for our Aussie agent of that time, Stephen Pavlovic. I am forever grateful to this man for introducing me to Australia and a grand gang of Australians!”

“This LP documents a lovely lull in the action. A Sunday night into morning, to collect myself and my songs. The songs that would be on our next album, some of these never made it, and the “Into Your Arms” I did here is better than the one on the album (I like it anyway). So sit back, snort some NoDoz and listen for the tunes, the sea, the tape hiss (ahhh), the cars, the birds the trucks, and the killer motorcycle at the end of ‘Being Around’! Wherever you live, I’ll be back there soon, Inshallah!! Until then, let’s all make the most of the tail end of sex with furniture. Yours ever faithfully.”

The Lemonheads will be touring the UK through late November/December playing It’s A Shame About Ray in full (and hopefully a whole load of other songs as that album is only 29 minutes long!!). Full tour dates below and a tracklisting of Hotel Sessions appears below that.

November
30 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

December
1 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
2 Leeds Cockpit
4 Newcastle Cluny
5 Glasgow Oran Mor
6 Manchester Ritz
7 Liverpool Academy 2
8 Sheffield Plug
10 Birmingham Academy 2
11 Cambridge The Junction
12 London Shepherds Bush Empire
13 Brighton Concorde 2

Hotel Sessions tracklisting:

“Big Gay Heart”
“Great Big No”
“Paid To Smile”
“It’s About Time”
“Style”
“I’ll Do It Anyway”
“Rest Assured”
“You Can Take It With You (pt.2)”
“Down About It”
“Into Your Arms”
“Superhero”
“And So The Story Goes”
“Being Around”
“You Can Take It With You (pt.1)”

They released one of 2011′s finest albums with their 20th anniversary celebrating The Double Cross and now my own personal rock n’ roll heroes Sloan are to release their first live bootleg LP. Titled Is That All I Get? and recorded on guitarist Patrick Pentland’s birthday on September 20, 1993 in Winnepeg, Manitoba, the album documents the band ‘rough and ready’ style (via fan-recorded cassette) after a year of touring their debut album Smeared and features nascent versions of tracks which would later appear on Twice Removed. Released in a limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies and pressed on green marble vinyl, the album will be available for purchase on Monday November 14 via their online store — sloanmusic.com.

This is what guitarist Jay Ferguson had to say about it:

“See, I’ve always been a big fan of the live bootleg LPs that began to appear in hip underground record stores in the 1970’s and into the 1980’s. So, here’s our very own (legal) tribute to that tradition. Packaged in a heavy duty white jacket, it comes with hand numbered, risographed wrap around outer sleeve, photocopied insert and pressed onto luminous green marbled vinyl!

To further continue with the bootleg custom, the original recording was captured via cassette by a fan in the audience back in Winnipeg, 1993. The results are a bit rough at the edges for sure, but kind of exciting and also finds our band at a point in our career where we were finishing a year or more of touring behind our first LP, Smeared, yet beginning to road test some songs that would wind up on Twice Removed. Early versions of Shame Shame and Worried Now appear with different musical bridges that would not be ironed out until a few months later. We even began the show with an Eric’s Trip cover! I found it to be an interesting time capsule (Patrick turns 24!) and hope you all think so too.”

photo:Tina Tyrell

In September of this year, St. Vincent took a giant leap forward with the release of third album, Strange Mercy. This time out Annie Clark was to combine her long-celebrated musical virtuosity with ambitious songwriting that ran a gamut of emotional cadences, all the while underpinned by a colourful sense of melody. Recording these songs live for the first time, St. Vincent has performed four tracks from Strange Mercy for the tenth visual instalment in the 4AD Session series.

Shot at Shangri-La Studios in the heart of the Brooklyn film and photography district in Greenpoint, the session was recorded with Annie’s new band, Daniel Mintseris (keys), Toko Yasuda (moog) and Matthew Johnson (drums). Given St. Vincent’s transgression from the underground to the pop spotlight over the course of three studio albums, it’s somewhat fitting that Shangri-La host the session having initially earned its name as a secret spot known only through word of mouth.

It’s been a tough month for music fans already having to deal with the loss of one legendary 80′s alternative rock band, but that may now be two, following the news of a divorce within the ranks of Sonic Youth. Does this mean the end of Sonic Youth as we know it? Does this mean the return of Free Kitten? Some of you are probably still clinging to your battered jazzmasters wondering how much more you can take?

It’s not the end of the world just yet as Thurston Moore has announced a second London date at the Electric Ballroom on December 3 where he’ll play his 1995 solo LP Psychic Hearts in full as part of All Tomorrow’s Parties ‘Don’t Look Back’ series. Thurston’s show at Union Chapel on December 2 (where he’ll be playing material from his recent album Demolished Thoughts) is already sold out, so this is your last chance.

The band for both shows will comprise: Thurston Moore, Samara Lubelski , Mary Lattimore, Keith Wood and John Maloney.

Support for both comes in the form of the spookily beautiful TALL FIRS.

Ticket are on sale now: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/thurstonpsychiclondon/tickets.php

photo by Pennie Smith

Here is a case of band makes one impossibly perfect, era-defining album that is arguably one of the greatest debuts ever recorded, and then…. everything goes to shit. You couldn’t but help feel sorry for The Stone Roses. This was the general feeling at the start of the 90’s, when these four cocky Mancunians went from strength to strength, only to end up in litigation with their old record company. Paint was thrown, records rereleased and the bands momentum eclipsed by Madchester and dozens of fakers instantly emulating their swagger and sound.

When Second Coming finally arrived four years after their debut it was too little too late, both to recapture the bands stratospheric rise and to establish a linear connection to their debut. Second Coming sounded like an experimental third album, the equivalent of what Oasis would do in 1997 with Be Here Now. Self-indulgent and aimless, Second Coming sucked and sucked some more. For someone who had the misfortune to witness the band following drummer Reni and guitarist John Squire’s departure in 1996, those live shows only reaffirmed the disappointment that Second Coming had brought with it and foreshadowed a rapidly approaching end.

Calls to reform plague every band who’ve ever achieved a modicum of success, and no matter what the smokescreen, unless you’re doing it for charity or other selfless reasons, it’s all about inflating egos and money. The Stone Roses were one of those bands you admired for the way they not as much distanced themselves from the “are you ever going to reform?” questions but volleyed them back with a curt “Never going to happen. Fuck Off”. John Squire was pretty good at that one. He just wanted to paint. Mani said as much as far back as April this year. Naturally bands, like people, have the right to do as they can please. They can change their minds like their guitar strings, but sometimes you just wish ….. “No”.

So, unsurprisingly The Stone Roses have reformed for two shows in Manchester in 2012 (no doubt more to come) and it’s big fucking news. Just like the radio station who played three Stone Roses songs in a row last night, bashing home the news while I sat in my local KFC wondering if this is really the “momentous occasion“ it’s touted as being. There are bound to be detractors as there are supporters, as well as many others who loved the band but who really don’t give a fuck. Just do it — play your songs, count your money, and go away. Don’t even think about putting another record out. Don’t mistake nostalgia for an open door to recapture your youth.

Just to perpetuate Webcuts’ myth that everybody these days is a bedroom musician and to celebrate the release of In Heaven the debut album from New York-based Twin Sister, the band are offering aspiring producers the opportunity to remix the track “Kimmi In a Rice Field”. The winning remixer will have their track released on Domino as well as the following prizes:

- £200 of Juno vouchers
- SoundCloud Pro account (worth €250)
- Mixed In Key
- Platinum Notes
- Limited Edition LPs and artwork signed by Twin Sister
- Remix released on Juno

You can download the stems for free through the Juno website. The competition closes on the 19th October and full rules are on the site.

“Kimmi in a Rice Field” also marks the second video from In Heaven, released this week (September 26). Following up on their playful affair “Bad Street”, the band collaborated again with Dan Devine, this time with drummer Bryan Ujueta co-directing. The video is a powerful visual counterpart to the atmospheric track, based on a ghost story created and written by vocalist Andrea Estella.

Currently about to embark on an extensive tour of the US, Twin Sister will be coming to the UK and Ireland for live dates from the end of October, kicking off with a co-headline show at the Garage on 25th October with Real Estate. Full dates are as follows:

Tue 25 Oct 2011 UK LONDON THE GARAGE (co-headline with Real Estate)
Wed 02 Nov 2011 UK BRIGHTON JAM
Fri 04 Nov 2011 UK OXFORD JERICHO
Sat 05 Nov 2011 UK BRISTOL START THE BUS
Sun 06 Nov 2011 UK LIVERPOOL MOJO
Mon 07 Nov 2011 UK MANCHESTER DEAF INSTITUTE
Wed 09 Nov 2011 UK GLASGOW CAPTAINS REST
Thu 10 Nov 2011 UK EDINBURGH SNEAKY PETES
Fri 11 Nov 2011 UK BELFAST THE LIMELIGHT
Sat 12 Nov 2011 IRELAND DUBLIN THE GRAND SOCIAL

It is with great sadness, shock and holy-shit-didn’t-see-that-coming to announce that alterna-rock legends R.E.M. have called it a day. Having released their 15th album Collapse Into Now earlier this year to critical acclaim, the Athens GA trio were riding something of a creative high, with an air of confidence that dispelled any rumour of Collapse Into Now being their swansong. The announcement was posted on their offical REMHQ website today.

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

Well, that’s bummed us here at Webcuts out. R.E.M. being one of the defining bands of the last three decades, and one of the defining bands in our musical education. But with no farewell tour, no last knowing rock and roll blast, just slipping out the back door with a ‘see ya later’, it’s left us a little stunned.

Thanks for the music, R.E.M. This Murmur’s for you.

It is too damn early to be throwing the ‘C’ word around, but the record company promotional machine waits for no man or elf. So it is with mixed scrooge-y feelings that we announce the release of She & Him’s first-ever Christmas recording entitled A Very She & Him Christmas on November 21, 2011 (via Double Six in the UK/Merge in the US).  

Inspired by seminal seasonal albums by the likes of The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and more, She & Him have set out to create an intimate recording of Christmas classics that help bring “new emotions out of old songs” (raised eyebrow, but we’ll play along). Ward and Deschanel could sing The Misfits back catalogue and it would still smell like sunshine and roses.

Recorded in Los Angeles and NYC at various points in 2011, A Very She & Him Christmas sees the duo stepping back slightly from the layered, lush aesthetic of their critically acclaimed second album, Volume Two. On A Very She & Him Christmas, Deschanel and Ward let the songs speak for themselves, often recording them with just acoustic guitar and vocals.

Consistent in everything are the elements that have made She & Him one of the most loved bands of the last few years – Deschanel’s soulful vocal delivery and Ward’s impressive guitar work, both sounding as timeless as ever.

The tracklisting is as follows:

01.    The Christmas Waltz
02.    Christmas Day
03.    Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
04.    I’ll Be Home for Christmas
05.    Christmas Wish
06.    Sleigh Ride
07.    Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
08.    Silver Bells
09.    Baby, It’s Cold Outside
10.    Blue Christmas
11.    Little Saint Nick
12.    The Christmas Song

Webcuts is seeking passionate/driven/outspoken writers/bloggers, experienced or otherwise, to contribute to our website. Webcuts has been in operation since 2007, largely as a labour of love for us to comment about the music and bands that we’re interested in, or to decry those that we’re not. We’re always interested in expanding our range of coverage and nurturing writers who want to get a start in music journalism or just have a vendetta against the current state of music. Here is your platform. Hop aboard.

We don’t pay for contributions, nor do we pay ourselves. From time to time we can offer the occasional physical CD or guestlists to review shows and festivals. Prove your worth, liven the place up a bit and we’ll endeavour to make it worth your while. Contributions aren’t limited to CD reviews. If you’re interested in interviewing bands or writing feature articles that pay tribute to some long forgotten band or just talk about how great Lady Gaga is, we’d be keen to hear your ideas and work with you.

Interested parties should email craig@webcutsmusic.com with the following information:

* Some background on yourself – name/age/location/life story up until now.

* Writing samples (at least two), ideally as word documents or direct links to samples online. No general links to your blog.

* Your favourite releases from last year and what albums you’re looking forward in 2011.

If we’re interested in having you write for us, we’ll get in contact with you. Please don’t send a follow up email to ask if we’ve received your samples. We’ll definitely be in touch if we’re interested. Thanks!