Not Quite Channel U

There's a new TV show, on Sky Digital channel 168 (Information TV) at 10:30pm every night, called U Show where musicians can pay to get National TV airtime. For £50 bands can get their music videos on the air (maximum 4 minutes) three times, on three separate days. The details are on Theushow.tv, but you basically just have to register, pay online, and send your video in and you'll be told when you're on. Apparently Camera Obscura, Tokyo Police Club, Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Husky Rescue, The Low Lows, LR Rockets and Lupen Crook have all been on it.
Sounds all right if you're in a band and you've got fifty quid I suppose - might be good to watch anyway.

Free Cut Copy Downloads

I have been told that you can download Cut Copy's new single, 'Lights & Music' free from iTunes for this week only, simply by clicking this link: Zaphod.uk.vvhp.net/click/3324020-59351/zaphod.uk.vvhp.net/v-v/080528093836-3324020.
But this doesn't appear to work. You can, however, get it if you have iTunes and an Apple account.

What's much simpler to obtain is a free download of the Midnight Juggernaugts remix of 'Hearts On Fire', by going to U-download.co.uk/heartsonfire and signing up to the mailing list. It's pretty good, sounds a bit like old fashioned sound effects.

Latest Gigs/Festival News

Gigs
Cage The Elephant - Wednesday 11th June - Roadhouse
Crystal Castles - Saturday 13th September - Academy 2 (presale - Artistticket.com/link/?e=crystal+castles, otherwise on sale Friday (30th May), 9:00am)
Coldplay - Thursday 11th December - MEN Arena (on sale Friday, 9:30am)
Coldplay - Friday 12th December - MEN Arena (on sale Friday, 9:30am)

Festival
Bjork and Pendulum have been confirmed as headliners at Wild In The Country, an 18-hour marathon event at Knebworth on 5th July, with a bill that includes Foals, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Hercules & The Love Affair and The Cuban Brothers.

Prom Night

This is what happened at The Teenagers' Prom Night. It's pretty much just a bunch of very drunk, dressed up kids.

Lightspeed Champion Videos

Last night Lightspeed Champion posted the following series of videos.

The first declares his love for all things KFC.



The second... is less easily defined.



The third sees him struggling to pronounce some of the dates on his forthcoming US tour.

Courteeners Covers

You can listen to clips of The Courteeners' B sides for their next single, 'No You Didn't No You Don't', both of which are covers, via Windows Media Player if you click on the following links.

[Velvet Underground's] I'm Sticking With You - Del.interoute.com/?id=ee62bc15-e646-423e-a121-09ce77cc0b0d&delivery=stream. This one's quite nice, Fray's voice quite suits it.

[James'] Out To Get You - Del.interoute.com/?id=9b0924a7-df1e-4ea0-b4d2-1938cd7369a6&delivery=stream. This one isn't bad either actually.

When Hadouken! Met We Are Scientists (video)

Here's a video of Keith Murray, lead singer of We Are Scientists, being interviewed (sort of) by James Smith, lead singer of Hadouken!. Keith, apparently having eaten some sort of mushroom, tells us about his day at The Great Escape festival and his anger with camera men.

Oh What A Lovely Tour

Babyshambles are to release a live CD/DVD two disc package entitled 'Oh What A Lovely Tour', after last winter's arena tour, on 2nd June. The DVD was filmed on the final date of the tour at Glasgow's SECC on 1st December 2007 and will also include videos for 'The Blinding', 'Delivery', 'You Talk' and 'Love You But You're Green'.

Here's a preview (The Blinding):




And here's the tracklisting:

1. Carry On Up The Morning
2. Delivery
3. Beg, Steal Or Borrow
4. Baddie's Boogie
5. Unstookie Titled
6. Side Of The Road
7. Buttercup Sing-A-Long
8. UnBiloTitled
9. The Blinding
10. You Talk
11. Sedative
12. Crumb Begging Baghead
13. Lost Art Of Murder
14. There She Goes
15. Albion
16. Pipedown
17. Killamangiro
18. Back From The Dead
19. I Wish
20. Fuck Forever

Split Up Bands With Free Music

Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames have, just the other day, announced their split.
"We always said if one of us wanted to move on then that would be the end and unfortunately that time has come. Without the five of us in a room, hammering our influences together, picking over the smallest of details and arguing about genres it just wouldn’t be the same. I think it is safe to say we are all gutted it didn’t work out. We never really got to grips with certain aspects of the music industry and in the end that stopped us from progressing as far as we would have liked."
The band will be releasing the last batch of their songs soon, as well as announcing new projects.

Lost Penguin - You can now download most of their songs for free at Myspace.com/wheresmypenguin.

Pigeon Detectives Album Clips

You can listen to clips of every song on The Pigeon Detectives' second album, 'Emergency' at 7digital.com/artists/the-pigeon-detectives/emergency. It's easiest to just click on the little play button next to 'Buy All' - a player comes up in the top right of the screen, telling you what track you're listening to.
It's sounding about as samey as the last album, but without the decent tunes. Pretty bland really. 'Say It Like You Mean It' is probably the best track.

The Cribs 'Be Safe' Performance (video)

Having been hacked and lost half of their Myspace friends (so you might want to re-add them), The Cribs have decided to sort it out and start using it a bit more. So, they've posted a video of their very first performance of 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York up at Myspace.com/thecribs. You could watch it there, but...

New Releases

Singles
Foals – Red Sox Pugie
The Fratellis – Mistress Mabel
Guillemots – Falling Out Of Reach
Hot Club De Paris – Hey! Housebrick (7”)
Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Where Do You Go?
The Long Blondes – Guilt (7”)
Lykke Li – I’m Good I’m Gone
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Paul Weller – Have You Made Up Your Mind / Echoes Round The Sun
The Zutons – Always Right Behind You

Albums
The Futureheads – This Is Not The World
The Pigeon Detectives – Emergency
Zombies - The Zombies and Beyond