What the pop papers say: Ails to the chief

Noel Gallagher's on the cover of the NME this week, which can mean only one thing. (And, yes, it does - Pete Doherty's on the cover next week.)

Noel on the cover; and inside, there's an amusing interview with a grouchy, funny giant of the Manchester music scene.

No, not Noel; Mark E Smith:

I mean, the Arctic Monkeys, come on. They've been to music college [this is not true]. They've got degrees in tock music [this isn't true, either]. I think some of them have got passes in The Fall.
[...]
I get sent magazines with all this advice for new bands... and it's 'Number one, get a decent bank account.' It's like applying to university. There was always privilege in music, but nowadays you don't have a chance in hell."

That's the way you do it. But then Smith doesn't have the problem Gallagher does - he's not trying to square a working class hero image with struggling with paying to send his kids to school; his anecdotes are about Pixies fans trying to take selfies rather than (as Noel does) stories about being on the red carpet at the BAFTAs.

The NME is still calling Noel "the chief"; I'm hoping this is ironic, given his timorous, weak new album - the way men in their 80s who were something in the Raj were still called The Major long after the sun had set on the Empire they once bestrode and the career they once had.

There's six pages of Noel, and Tom Howard gives him an easy ride. Especially when there's a strand of his thinking that's a little disturbing.

First, Gallagher trots through the Ali G defence for sending his kid to private school. We've heard this before, of course:

Good for you that you don't have to go to fucking school and come home talking like fucking Ali G, because, believe me, I would beat that out of you

Let's hope that Noel's using "beat that out of you" as a figure of speech. Let's hope that.

But - as the last time he used 'I don't want my kids to sound like Ali G' justification for swerving the local comprehensive - what does "sounding like Ali G" mean?

It could be that he simply means that he doesn't want his children to sound like working class kids do these days - a strange position for a man who has made his money out of tales of working class upbringing. Suddenly, Gallagher is concerned about "speaking proper", is he?

Or it could be that "talking like Ali G" means "talking like Ali G" - co-opting the speech patterns and slang of young black men?

Later on, Gallagher is talking about his support for the Teenage Cancer Trust - one of the things that reflects really well on him. It's a great cause, and Noel has really gone above and beyond in the work he does for them.

There's a but.

I like it because it's a charity for British kids, and it's real, you know

Not a charity for kids who are unwell; not that they're facing a massive challenge at a time of their lives when they should just be enjoying themselves.

It's a charity for British kids.

As opposed to what, exactly, Noel?

It's not as if Noel hasn't helped charities aiding people cursed with the misfortune to not have been born British on top of their other problems - Oasis were one of the main attractions for War Child, for a start. It makes the phrase even more puzzling.

Like the Ali G remark, it feels less like a racist stance and more a throwback to Victorian charity-begins-at-home Little Englanderism; a faint whiff of the UKIPs that Noel himself would probably be surprised to notice.

Maybe The Chief has more in common with The Major than we'd first expect.

Elsewhere, Laura Snapes watches Sleater-Kinney, deftly linking Carrie's claim that their music is an "obliteration of the sacred" with their presence as "some sort of religious totem".

Emily McKay talks to Kim Deal, making a game attempt to get to the bottom of the Pixies split but deciding it's better to hear about the Breeders than it is to pursue the matter.

You do wonder, though: The Fall, Noel Gallagher; Sleater-Kinney; a Radiohead The Bends feature; Mark E Smith; The Breeders... why on earth are young people not buying the NME? Is it because they're not really much in the NME these days?

One last thing: Between page 52 and page 59, Pete Doherty has morphed in Peter Doherty. Might want to decide on which it is before you lay out next week's cover, guys.

Glastonbury 2014: The view from the sofa II

So Metallica's (admittedly amusing) bear video makes their presence at Glastonbury even more problematic. If the festival's line was "well, we don't want to get involved in people's politics", how does that square with letting the headliners start off with a film that basically treats genuine misgivings about their activities as fuel for yuks?

It's a pity that Metallica's entrance left such a bad taste, as Lars Ulrich's post-gig interview on BBC Two was charming; a man who clearly loves the festival and was enjoying every moment of it.

Still, all the burbling about how astonishing having a metal band in Pilton was pretty redundant given that, across the fields, the Manics were kicking the arse out of You Love Us without the need for anyone to edit Wikipedia to record 'metal at Glasto' as a historic event.

The half-arsed red button downgraded itself to a quarter-arse for Saturday; if the 'look, here's, erm, Newsnight' chunk on Friday was bad, it was going to get worse. For a little while, one of the stages at Glastonbury was apparently showing Family Guy, according to press red. Oh, and for some reason tennis rolled over one stream of the coverage for a large chunk of the early evening, because sports always trumps the arts at the BBC, no matter what Tony Hall might think. (To be fair, sport always trumped news when John Birt was in charge.)

Robert Plant's audience looked to be having the best time of all the crowds - someone nearly shook the very eyes out their head when he started up Whole Lotta Love.

Best outfit? Cate Le Bon's space dress, obviously.

Lana Del Ray struggled a bit - the performance was fine, but it just kinda floated away into the sky. The USP suddenly turning into a disadvantage.

Clean Bandit (or Hollyoaks: The Dance Album) were much better suited to this kind of thing. And they had by far the best way of getting the crowd to bellow along, with a kind of elbows out/kitten cleaning ears stance when participation was required.

Oh, Pixies are still going. It turns out.

Embed and Letterman: Pixies (2)

So, Letterman had the Pixies on when they reformed. Which is good, but he also had them on first time round.

Here they are in 1992:



[Part of Embed and Letterman]

Embed and breakfast man: Letterman

With David Letterman announcing his retirement, it's worth recalling that American TV isn't just losing a programme which mined a seam of inspired humour (albeit one which kept on mining after the seam was worked out), but also a show with a brilliant music booking policy.

Let's have a quick look, shall we?

Here's Pixies doing Monkey Gone To Heaven as a kick-off:


[More to come]
Earlier Pixies
David Bowie
Alabama Shakes
Sonic Youth
Blur
Guided By Voices
Pink
Pulp
Luscious Jackson
The Bangles
Vampire Weekend
Sleater-Kinney

Pixies: They've gone a bit Blue Peter

The word "fun". It's like a coded cry for help, isn't it?

With the late-April release of Indie Cindy, the first new Pixies studio album in more than 20 years, the band, along with legendary graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, is calling upon the Pixies’ artistic community to participate in a fun contest where art and music converge.

You have Vaughan Oliver. Why would you invite amateur input? "Hey, we've got Duke Ellington offering to do something for the new record, so we thought we'd get some people to send in cassette tapes of them playing piano and he could choose the best one, albeit one which will fall quite short of his piano playing."

Pixies - Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering - are looking for committed fans and artists to create a unique Pixies-inspired design measuring 11” X 17” (279mm x 432mm) that utilizes Pixies logos and the "Indie Cindy” album title - everything else can be a product of the artist’s creativity and ingenuity. All submissions will be personally judged by the three Pixies band members and by Vaughan Oliver, who has designed all Pixies artwork over the band’s career. The winning designer will receive a cash prize of $500 and an autographed copy of the winning design. The design itself will be used as a limited-edition, commemorative lithograph print that will be offered as a bonus item with the purchase of the band’s new album at independent music stores.

"Hello? Is that the guy whose record shop is struggling in the face of an onslaught from digital music shops? We've got a plan to offer something special to tempt customers onto your street. Yeah, does sound good, doesn't it? What? Well, you know Vaughan Oliver? Yeah, you do? Right, well, he's going to choose a fan drawing for you to give away exclusively. Hello?"

"We love the idea that people make our music their own,” said Pixies Black Francis, “that they have their own interpretation of the lyrics and the songs’ meanings. So, we’re really excited to see what the artists in our fan base come up with in terms of visuals, how they ‘SEE’ our music."

That's how the press release renders "see". I don't know why, but I'm sure it's fun.

Kim Deal issued her own press statement, saying simply "you see? Do you understand now?"

Pixies split again

What is it with bassists called Kim and the Pixies?

They've just lost the second one in a year. Kim Shattuck posted this to Facebook:

Super disappointed to learn that my time with the Pixies ended today. Amazing experience. Looking forward to focusing my attention back on the Muffs and our upcoming new album. All the best to everyone.

This shouldn't be too much of a surprise - if you had suspicions that she was being viewed as hired help, Tom Howard's Pixies piece in the NME last week would have confirmed it. The manager wouldn't let Howard talk to Shattuck; when he asked Black Francis why, he was told to ask the manager.

Kim Deal quits the Pixies

Kim Deal has left the Pix... hang on, what?

Are you sure, USA Today?

The Pixies have not toured together since fall 2011 and last released original music in 2004.
[...]
No future plans have been announced by the remaining Pixies members, which include Black Francis, David Lovering and Joey Santiago.

What exactly has she "left"? Shouldn't this statement read "Kim Deal has gotten tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen"?

Breeders weekend: Gigantic

Song from a different band, as The Breeders cover Pixies in Japan:



[Part of Breeders weekend]

Pixies: I am a banned Andalousian

So, last week, the Pixies decided they'd rather not play that festival in Tel Aviv.

The Israelis were surprisingly upset:

“I am full of both sorrow and pain,” wrote [promoter] Shuki Weiss, “in light in light of the fact that our repeated attempts to present quality acts and festivals in Israel have increasingly been falling victim to what I can only describe as a form of cultural terrorism which is targeting Israel and the arts worldwide.”

You'd think coming from a country which has been the victim all-too-often of actual terrorism, you might think twice before throwing the word round like that. Apart from anything, 'not being able to see Kim Deal on stage' might seem a small thing to put on a par with 'having your face blown off on a subway train'.

Still, Weiss was upset, so perhaps the kindest thing to do is accept that she was caught in the heat of the moment. It'd be unfair to hold her lazy and offensive use of "terrorist" against her.

After all, it's not like anyone is going to be so thick as to actually interpret 'canceling a gig' as if it was an actual terrorist act, right? You'd have to be...

Sorry, what was that you Canadian was saying?

The Canadian government announced that it is putting the alternative rock band The Pixies on its list of “terrorist organizations” after the group cancelled its upcoming trip to Israel in the wake of the Gaza Flotilla affair.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told reporters today, “Terrorism anywhere and in any form, whether it be physical, moral, verbal, mental or cultural is abhorrent to this government.”

To offer a thin piece of hope, I've not been able to find any news agency reporting this move, so let's hope it's all an attempt at wit that has got out of hand.

Another supporter of the move was Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas), who said in an interview, “If the Pixies want to boycott Israel, then Canada is at war with the Pixies.”

Asked if he was familiar with the Pixies’ music, Kent replied that this was not germane to his decision. “I’m not familiar with [Hizbollah leader] Nasrallah’s sermons but I know a terrorist when I see one.”

Although, by his own admission, Kent hasn't seen the Pixies.

If Kent does have this amazing ability to tell who is a terrorist just by looking at them, why don't they have him in airports? You could save a fortune in scanners and security.

If this story is true, does Doolittle now constitutes 'terrorist materials' if you go north of the Great Lakes?

UPDATE: Yes, it turns out it was an attempt at wit on the part of Professor Larry Haiven, who wrote the piece. Kieran's Review spoke to him:

It was a joke, but uh, it was close enough to what’s true, that is somewhat believable.

What wasn't funny, though: the Israeli quote isn't fabricated.

Pixies dump Israel following storming of flotilla

Given that Israel seems to enjoy being condemned, as it fuels the sense of hard-done-bys in the world's most Emo nation, the news that the Pixies and Placebo have pulled out of next week's Tel Aviv festival probably won't have much effect.

The Pixies haven't even confirmed that they've made a political decision, instead:

blaming "events beyond our control"

Given that most events in the Middle East seem to be beyond anyone's control, that's probably fair enough.

Interesting, though, that the bands were happy to accept the bookings at a time when Israel was still blockading Gaza, destroying the local economy and throwing hundreds of thousands into extreme poverty.

Downloadable: Pixies

Two pieces of Pixies news. First, here's one of them there widgets-for-mp3s:

That'll get you a live version of La La Love You.

Second, there's two fan-special-shows in June at Troxy. Thirty quid gets you in.

Embed and breakfast man: Pixies

This, I would suggest, might be considered NSFW in the sense that to enjoy the lot of it, you'll have to hope nobody sees what you're doing. Pixies, pushing their Minotaur box sets, have released a 33 minute promo splurge:

Embed and breakfast man: Pixies

The Pixies - always happy to lend support to a dying regime - have been on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon this week. Look:



One of the comments on the YouTube page says "it's one of the best Debasers I've heard since the first reunion", which I'm not sure is meant to be sarcastic or not.

Downloadable: Pixies

In one of them swap-for-email deals, the Pixies are offering a free ep. You don't even have to go anywhere as there's a widget. Look:

Pixies: June 15th

Ooh! Oooh! Pre-orders are being taken for Pixies - Minotaur, due June 15th.

Of course, the Minotaur was half-bull, but this seems to be on the level.

[via You Aint No Picasso]

1988 Festive Fifty Weekend: Number seven

The highest placing for Pixies, with Gigantic. This is live, but no indication of where it was recorded.



Buy: Pixies Acoustic: Live in Newport

[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]

1988 Festive Fifty Weekend: The thirties

Picking up, quite quickly, some of the tracks that made the lower reaches of the Fifty:

39. Pixies - River Euphrates
Live, Brixton, 26th June 1991



Buy: Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim

35. Stump - Charlton Heston



Buy: Stump Box Set

31. Mudhoney - Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More
Live in Chester, Cheshire, 1989



Buy: Superfuzz Big Muff

[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]

Black Francis off the streets

Much as we love him, we raise a curious eyebrow that the Metropolitan Police were so scared by the prospects of Black Francis playing a gig in the streets that they feared he might bring London to a standstill.

Citing the twentyfirst century boogerman of Health & Safety, Frank was made to play his "pre-core" gig inside instead.

That's as opposed to an encore, in case you're wondering.

Mogwai grind Pepper

Mogwai aren't impressed with the idea of bands recreating Sgt Pepper:

Such musical wonders as James Morrison and The Fratellis are to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sergeant Pepper's Beatles album by covering songs from it. I cannot wait to hear this meaningful idea.

"Only thing is, can anyone really better the genius of With A Little Help From My Friends? I know Wet, Wet, Wet came really close but it'll take a mastery of music to pull this one off.

"Such classics as A Day In The Life will surely be so difficult to interpret due to its subtleties and beautiful piano breakdown. I cannot wait and I doubt you can either.

Yeah!"

Mogwai are, erm, currently preparing their track for a Pixies tribute album.