Holy Ghost! on being distant cousins of Abe Lincoln and having “no beef” with technology

Holy Ghost!

A revolution is taking place (always, somewhere), and DFA is one of those labels that is making its own aesthetic mark. For almost ten years the label has consequently altered and given us a feel of how they imagine the NY underground scene should sound. With danceable mixtures of punk, disco, and house at its core. Most of it done the organic way, i.e. no laptops, but actual synths and drums and a real bass and all that jazz. Watch LCD Soundsystem perform with their full band, or The Juan MacLean, or any of the other bands for that matter; it is all people playing instruments. … Continue Reading

Primary 1 on how to pronounce ‘Moog’, Nina Persson and Abba

Primary 1

Clubbers always know first, don’t they? Because getting out means discovering and learning from people you encounter. So they probably already knew some of the club friendly stuff done by Joe Flory before I ever heard of him. Flory makes music under the name of Primary 1, and his teaming up with gifted producer Riton resulted in some tracks for the dance floor. He came on my radar after I heard the track ‘The Blues’ featuring Nina Persson (she of the Cardigans), and after that one promptly media attention started to swell. With the release of single ‘Princess’ in June and a host of live gigs forthcoming we at Muso’s Guide thought it time to have a chat with film student-turned-musician Joe Flory. … Continue Reading

The Slits – London O2 Islington Academy

The Slits

The Slits are on stage and the Tories are in power. We’re rocking back to 1979. Just as David Cameron is a warmer, smoother, sexier version of Margaret Thatcher, the new Slits are now less raw and raucous. They haven’t sold out, though! Johnny “Rotten” Lydon might be doing adverts for butter on TV, but the Slits exist for their music, and they’re still rocking – led by Johnny’s step-daughter Ari Up. … Continue Reading

A chat with Stornoway…

Stornoway

Paul Wilson recently caught up with Stornoway’s drummer extraordinaire, Rob Steadman, for a chat about their new album Beachcomber’s Windowsill and their ongoing rise as folk-pop stars…

Your new album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, is out on May 24th, how does it feel to have your album finally released to the public?

It’s definitely exciting, we’re a bit nervous about the reaction. We’ve had some really good comments from people who’ve  heard an advanced copy, people are saying they think it’s really great so we’re looking forward to its release but anxious at the same time. We’re hosting three launch parties at a small venue in Oxford, with about one hundred people each night. We’re doing it for our local fanbase that we started with. … Continue Reading

Young Rebel Set: “we are a melting pot of creativity”

Young Rebel Set

Muso’s Guide’s Paul Wilson went along to Manchester’s Ruby Lounge to meet hotly-tipped Teesside newcomers Young Rebel Set, and get the lowdown on their creative ethos, tour antics and other such. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Matt Chipchase, Patrick Jordan and Andy Parmley of Young Rebel Set… … Continue Reading

UKG chat with Oxide… “expect some garage bangers at Thrice As Nice!”

The advent of dubstep has seen a resurgence in popularity for UK Garage, arguably where the new scene’s roots came from. And it’s well timed, being that Muso’s Guide is currently promoting UKG night THRICE AS NICE featuring none other than number-one hit sensations Oxide and Neutrino, of the legendary So Solid Crew.

Here’s more on that:

THRICE AS NICE

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Life Without Buildings: the catch up interview

Life Without Buildings

Life Without Buildings leapt out of an art school corner of Glasgow at the turn of the millennium, and have since – passively – courted listeners who deem their debut (and only) LP Any Other City among the most precious in their collection. It’s not the sort of album to be absorbed immemorably, instead sticking like a giant earworm. The inner rumblings of singer Sue Tompkins are set against a spiky, coarse backing from the other three members of the band (Chris Evans, Will Bradley and Robert Johnston) and appeared, then, in short and mostly unnoticed bursts that may or may not have been happed upon via the release of three double A-sides and a fourth, distributed only in Australia. The internet wasn’t what it is now, so a quick blink and LwB were gone. … Continue Reading

Mike Doughty – London Relentless Garage

Mike Doughty

February 2nd 2010

“I want to be on you”.  Ron Burgundy’s “immortal words” are those chosen by Mike Doughty to sell himself to the British public.

Doughty, formerly of alt-rock band Soul Coughing, is pretty popular in the States, but relatively unknown here.  My question referred to selling himself to us in the style of a dating ad.  His witty answer, I come to realise, is standard.

The American singer-songwriter is a fairly open book, regularly tweeting (find him @mikedoughtyyeah) and blogging on his website, where he comments honestly on his day to day activities and thoughts on the happenings in the world; two recent tweets include “Lousy night. Crowd couldn’t have cared less” and “Salinger gone – perhaps we’ll at last hear his Rock Opera”.  Is it important for him to keep in touch with fans? “I think it ends up being important, but the reason I do it is just my general obsession with killing time online” he says. “I think my crowd feels pretty close to me because of the access I give to myself, but I don’t think it’s necessarily vital to being a musician these days”.

This openness has extended to a book about his previous life as a drug addict, which he’s in the process of writing.  Mike claims “writing prose is a lot more time consuming than song writing” and that “linear thinking”  is not his strength.  He’s currently struggling to write about his time with Soul Coughing, describing it as “pretty shitty”.
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Words with Blue Roses

Laura Groves

As a big fan of Blue Roses’s wonderful debut album and having been lucky enough to catch her a couple of times live before at The Great Escape and Glastonbury, Muso’s Guide was pleased to have the opportunity to chat to Blue Roses’ Laura Groves before her gig at The Captain’s Rest in Glasgow, earlier this month. Having to jettison an interview indoors thanks to the elderly gentleman, wearing his medals and a large poppy (it was Remembrance Sunday) who insisted on querying the war records of drinker’s grandfathers (no, really!) and not satisfied with was asking who had their medals. Laura chatted to us about her year, approach to song-writing and upcoming plans as well as Wild Beasts, gender roles in music and Twitter out in the wind and cold. Considering Laura had to cancel one gig before this night due to a sore throat, Muso’s Guide was very relieved that the tour was completed without anymore illness.

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Amanda Palmer: “I think deliberate intrigue is not my forte. I’ll leave that to PJ Harvey.”

Amanda Palmer

Muso’s Guide met up with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls to talk about Twitter and getting dropped…

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