hmvblogs - blogs by hmv

Micah P Hinson - the P stands for Paul.

Texan Micah P Hinson is about to release his third album (fourth, if you count 'The Baby and the Satellite', which was more of a mini album really). It's called Micah P Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra, and it's almost immediately in my best of the year list. Not much has changed from album to album, but who cares when the man can write such awesome tunes. I love the warmth, twang and croak of his voice, as well as the lush, yet simple backing. Alt Country/folk fans will enjoy it i should think, though i actually think Hinson writes pretty peerless music. I've loved everything he's done, though i find myself returning to the first album, Micah P Hinson and the Gospel of Progress, the most. I'll be seeing him live for the second time at this year's End of the Road Festival (which is actually going to be my stag do). The first time i saw him, he was seriously amazing, so he's got a lot to live up to...i'll let you know.

Here's a video for 'Beneath The Rose' off the first album. There doesn't seem to be a video for 'When We Embraced', which is his current single, but this is a great song, and it's a cute video...

easy

This weekend two things I promised to do today were 1/. help my friends make a video (which I've obviously not done as I'm typing this) and 2/. mention KLF here. So that's one  point done.
My favourite new release today is by far the Liam Finn download single Second Chance (available on this album too). Seeing his dad on stage at Glastonbury reminded me how different they are  - although he has inherited great musicianship & songwriting skills Liam is much rawer. Anyway, it was this clip from Jools Holland that hooked me & everyone i mentioned it to had missed it. He starts quietly on guitar & by the end he's rocking on the drums, very impressive.

john baker tapes

In the world of early experimentation in electronic music and sound manipulation, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was the leading centre populated by, well, let's face it, nutters that enjoyed a healthy level of genius. John Baker was one of the three main characters at the BBC, and here Trunk Records have gathered together a 2 CD collection of mainly unreleased work from this visonary producer.

I'm hooked!

I've been getting really into Summer Heights High on BBC3 over the last few weeks. My friend Rue has been quoting it for ages (though I'm not sure how she'd seen it before it was on). It's an Aussie comedy set in a school and filmed in a documentary (mockumentary!) style. It was written by, and stars Chris Lilley, and pretty much all the jokes emanate from his mouth. He plays three characters, a drama teacher named Mr G. with a slightly odd sense of what is appropriate in a classroom, a fickle ex-public school female student called Ja'ime, and bad kid Jonah. It's basically what I'd call 'wrong' humour, in that you shouldn't really laugh at half of it. Anyway, it's my favourite thing on TV at the moment. Looking forward to the DVD, which comes out on 10th November. Apparently the Australian version has nearly 4 hours of outtakes and deleted scenes, so i hope we get the same treatment. Here's a clip:

Germans do it better...

I'm often nipping over to Rob's desk at work to see what new albums I can borrow and he came up with this little gem.  Knowing my musical tastes well he recommended Elaste Volume 2, a electronicdiscofunkboogiedubreggae compilation on Germany's Compost label.  I'd heard of a few of the artist on this long player before (Two Man Sound, Alan Hawkshaw, Tony Allen, Rufus) the others were pretty unknown to me, after a few listens found myself kept going back to the second track, Rebel On The Run by Selection, cool space/funk disco number.  Also loved the Hallocingenik remix of  Chaka's and Rufas Ain't Nobody, which was very refreshing to hear (even though the original is a classic I can't bring myself to play it anymore due to Essex over exposure...). Well worth checking this album out if you enjoy the less commercial side of the disco genre, all killers no fillers guaranteed! So thanks Rob, have you got Volume 1?! 

kick out the jams

I went to the MC5/Primal Scream Festival Hall show a couple of nights ago & am still not sure what to make of it all really. I don't know it's the best venue for things like this having only really been impressed with Sparks there before. The closing part of the night that saw the bands on stage together was especially strange - the sight of MC5 doing 'Moving On Up' from Screamadelica was not something I'd anticipated. 'Rocket Reducer'  was pretty good though & it did remind me how great the MC5's 3 albums (Kick Out The Jams/Back In The USA/High Time)are. Here's a clip of them all at the end..

Sneak Peek at Somers Town

I'm a great fan of Shane Meadows' films. He's right up there with the big boys in British cinema, like Mike Leigh (check out Happy Go Lucky, if you haven't already - great film) or Ken Loach. All his films are quite tough to watch and have that feel of 'gritty realism' that is associated with a lot of British films. They also all seem to have a deep (and kinda sick) sense of humour, as well as brilliant soundtracks. Paddy Considine, who starred in Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's shoes might very possibly be my new hero, plus he reminds me of my friend Rob for some reason! Thomas Turgoose, who played the wee skinhead in the Bafta-winning This Is England, is a fantastic actor, and totally made that film for me. I'm in luck then, as he stars in Meadows' new film, Somers Town as well. I haven't seen it yet, but i know it's a coming of age film, which seems like familiar territory for Meadows now. Going on the director's track record I'd guess it's brilliant and a touch disturbing. It's out in late August, and there doesn't seem to be a trailer out yet. However, for those of you who can't wait to have a glimpse, here's a slide show of production shots i found on Youtube. Enjoy...

nothing fishy about this one

If you haven’t seen it already (or even if you have, and wanna see it again) head over here and watch the new trailer for Call of Duty: World at War. It must be pretty daunting following in the footsteps of a behemoth like CoD 4, but it looks like the guys over at Treyarch aren’t doing a bad job…

I suppose it helps starting with the Modern Warfare game engine, but I like the idea of adding flamethrowers into the mix, and co-op gameplay looks cool too. Can’t wait to find out a bit more about the game, I’ll be sure to update hmv.com as soon as I do!

shake shake shake

Much has been written about what a great live band White Denim are after their SXSW appearances earlier this year. I've been enjoying their album for some time now after getting over the fact it occasionally sounds like you've come across tapes of them jamming, punctuated with great choruses. Anyway, they did an instore at a Soho record store last night which was stunning. It was really hot and loud, & the singer was moving about so much I had to watch out he didn't crash into me. Well worth seeing if you're off to Glastonbury this week, though it'd be hard to beat seeing them so up close.

The very best of smooth jazz...

...no not that awful newfangled modern nonsense, this little gem i discovered the other day. Now, there's not a lot of new stuff that grabs me these days in the jazz world. So i was so pleased to find this 1968 session live from Ronnie Scott's featuring the mighty tenor of the great Ben Webster. Recorded five years before his death, he's in terrific form backed up here by the brilliant Stan Tracey Trio. This is how jazz was and should always be - tight, swingin' and with a feeling that the band are having fun playing it. A top-notch little find.

maybe gta 5 will look this realistic...

Some clever guy who goes by the name of Pixeloo has come up with this pretty awesome picture of what Grand Theft Auto IV’s Niko Bellic might look like if he was a real person. He’s used some impressive Photoshop skills to come up with the image, which looks amazing.

Check out his official blog here, there’s a few other designs on there to look at, like a real version of Family Guy’s Stewie Griffin and a scarily realistic non-toon version of Homer Simpson. Good stuff!

o won't you please take me home

With the news towards the end of last week that Chinese Democracy may be about to surface it made me smile to see that Sweet Child O' Mine had charted again. At the moment I'm not too sure about a 'new' Guns & Roses album given that it's been in the works so long, but maybe I'll be praising it here soon. And as proved by the chart placing, Appetite.. is still gaining them fans who will be after new product regardless.
What really pleased me however was the fact that the mighty Skynyrd are back in the charts with Sweet Home Alabama, o' yes!