Webcuts Music

Manic Street Preachers are to release a cover of The The’s 1983 single “This Is The Day” to coincide with the release of their complete singles collection album entitled National Treasures, and have announced details of a very special one-off Christmas show performing all the songs on the album at the O2 in London on December 17. Manic Street Preachers were once the sound of our youth. We bought into the sloganeering and hype, wore out our 12″ of “You Love Us” (the Heavenly records version, not the Generation Terrorists one) and seriously thought about buying a pair of white levis and wearing fur coats. It takes a brave man to wear a pair of white levis, let me tell you.

It’s become tradition for Deerhunter fans to expect a new Atlas Sound album to follow a Deerhunter album. Given the success of Deerhunter’s Halcyon Days who could begrudge Bradford Cox not wanting to strike while the muse is still hot and prep an entirely new (ie: non-blog leaked) release? Due out on 4AD on November 8 will be the third Atlas Sound album entitled Parallax, the follow-up to 2008′s Logos. No word as yet if this is Bradford alone or with special guests. The website for Parallax offers scant details, bar a scrolling landscape and genre-defining the album as ‘Science Fiction’. Well, alright then.

Warpaint are to release live favourite “Billie Holiday” as their next single on September 19. The track has been mixed by Pulp bassist Steve Mackey and is a complete re-working of the original version from their debut EP Exquisite Corpse, produced by John Frusciante. Warpaint’s record label Rough Trade explained, “It was felt that the single did not get enough ears the first time around, and as it’s always been a band favourite it only seems right to re-release it now that they are a little more well known”. The track will appear on a deluxe reissue of debut album The Fool (also out on Sept. 19) packaged with the EP.

The 25th anniversary of Throwing Muses debut has arrived, with 4AD issuing the first ever compilation of the band’s work, simply entitled Anthology, on September 5. Compiled by the band, the first American act to sign to 4AD, the twenty-one track selection eschews most of the singles in favour of personal favourites, and enjoys a non-chronological sequence. The initial limited release comes in a hardback book with a bonus twenty-two track CD of B-sides and rarities. To coincide with this the band have scheduled a European tour throughout late Oct/Nov.

Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus And Mary Chain are due to reissue their entire back catalogue in deluxe 2CD/1DVD editions this September/October, starting with two of their greatest albums – Psychocandy and Darklands – on the Edsel label. Psychocandy is still one of those divisive albums that even decades after its 1985 release is enough to make a conventional music fan reach for their ears and go ‘what the fuck is this?’. I mean these days, throwing feedback over a beat and adding vocals is old hat, but the Mary Chain did it first, well, maybe not first, but definitely best.

On a day when the once great Morrissey lost his goddamn mind, alienating fans and supporters with his ill-considered opinion about the Norway tragedy in a desperate attempt to appear controversial and relevant, it seems a timely occasion to announce the latest addition to The Smiths shop floor. Rhino Records, in their continuing attempt to bleed the collaborative corpse of Morrissey and Marr dry, have prepared for fans the Rolls Royce of Smiths collectables with their Deluxe Collectors Boxset, containing remastered versions of the entire back catalogue on vinyl and CD and mostly everything else you have already.

“There aren’t that many great instrumental rock duos in the history of rock and roll…”, we once mused when faced with the cultured atonalities of London/Barcelona duo Civil Civic, before later concluding, perhaps even throwing out as a dare, “Civil Civic could turn out to be the greatest instrumental duo in the history of rock and roll”. The time has come for them to prove us right or prove us wrong. Having entered into the popular ‘fund our record’ scheme utilized by bands who want to cut out the middle man and deal directly with their audience, Civil Civic are reliant on you, “the fan”, to make this happen.

Now this is the kinda contest fun that Webcuts approves of, despite the fact it involves a little artist-approved song sabotage and censorship. Help Stephen Malkmus write a family-friendly version of his forthcoming single “Senator”, taken from the upcoming Domino Records album Mirror Traffic (out August 22) and you could win a pretty sweet prize. As you’re probably aware, the chorus features the line “I know what the senator wants – what the senator wants is a blowjob”. That Malkmus, such a snazzy wordsmith, but blowjobs will not truck on the radio and a solution must be found.

With a brand new Throwing Muses album waiting in the wings, the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut has arrived, with 4AD issuing the first ever compilation of the band’s work, simply entitled Anthology, on September 5. Compiled by the band, the first American act to sign to 4AD, the twenty-one track selection eschews most of the singles in favour of personal favourites, and enjoys a non-chronological sequence which makes for interesting juxtapositions and encourages a reassessment of the music. The initial release comes in a hardback book with a bonus CD of B-sides and rarities.

Forget Glastonbury, I mean, really, just forget it. With the recent addition of Prince to the Hop Farm Festival line-up, expanding the event from two to three days, and a guaranteed U2 and Coldplay free zone, Hop Farm has become a firm contender as one of the quintessential UK festivals of 2011. The event, which now takes place from July 1-3 at Hop Farm in Kent, will also mark Prince’s first UK show in four years, following on from his mammoth run at the O2 arena in 2007. The other headline slots already taken up by the aforementioned royal family dissing Morrissey and American legends, The Eagles.