Stuff and bits part 2

Tweet Ian, who's always in first with breaking news over on thrillpier, has already pointed out that Silvio from the Sopranos, AKA little Stevie from the E Street Band will be broadcasting his radio show Underground Garage direct from Tower Records on Sunday (1PM to 3PM). Should be a pretty ace way to spend an afternoon for non-Oxegen goers. I believe he is into all sorts of classic rock, but primarily garage rock. He took a big interest in Dublin band The Urges a while back. Did he sign them or something? I dunno. I was always sorta curious about that Nuggets style scene in Dublin. All those resplendent mod guys turning out Lester Bangs-type music as if it were still 1968. I criticised one of these bands once saying they were pastiche, but in fairness if I ever formed a band it would be a Guided by Voices pastiche. Ahem - Speaking of which, this brings me neatly around to the most recent Times New Viking MP3. I have a hardcore grá for these guys, even though they are best buds with that Psychedelic Horseshit dude who seems to be on a one man mission to bully Wavves. I'll have to digress a bit before getting back to the TNV tune. The Psychedelic Horseshit stuff came on the back of an overall intimidatory journalistic beat-down against Nathan Wavves. This was ignited by a music website who clearly should have known he wasn't ready for the fame hoisted on him by said site. Yet, they blabbed MELTDOWN! during Primavera like they were an association of judgemental indie elders sitting proud on a moral cloud. The Greek Gods of alternative music. Some musicians struggle live. Thome Yorke has done. Kurt Cobain clearly did. Bright Eyes too. Recently, I've seen Beirut 'melt down'. Less recently, Grandaddy. It happens. Good bands will fuck up, with the aid of illegal substances or not. They are all too human. And sometimes a bit more difficult even than that. But just because one disgruntled Pitchfork writer had a blackberry at the right time, a vulnerable enough lad (if admittedly youthfully arrogant with - God forbid - a wee fondness for dope) was dragged through the coals like a sacrificial lamb. The information pitchfork.com (who didn't cover said festival properly anyway) provided about Nathan from Wavves was subsequentially digested by many other music blogs and bigger sites like NME. Also, in extension to their 'meltdown tweets', from Ryan Schreiber, Pitchfork followed up with a stinkingly childish, linked interview from a member of the Black Lips. Here, said macho hero blabbed explicitly about how a friend of his band gave Nathan the drugs he couldn't handle. That to me was the saddest part of all. What was the message there? Some pitchfork favoured bands are big and clever at taking drugs, others aren't? Oh look! it's the poor fucker who had the MELTDOWN! (tm) God have mercy on him. Heard it was worse than when Posh Spice stopped atein' celery last week. He'll never get over it. Nice promo for 'no hope kids'. It includes some fun clips from Dublin. And now, that Times New Viking Tune. It's awesome. They recorded it on videotape (VHS) apparently. It sounds clearer than the last album which was probably recorded on used fanny pads or something, even though it was still ace. MP3: Times New Viking - No time, No hope I suspect they'll battle it out with Jay Reatard this summer over who can get out the most nihilistic record title. They currently pip Reatard, because despite this TNV badboy having a ginormous melody, its refrain, "no time, no hope" sounds like an existential howl that mocks the generally accepted chirpy rules of life. Jay's almost equally life-affirming effort is called "you're gonna lose" and contains the heartwarming nugget "don't you know/ you're gonna lose". Giddy up for some REAL positive tunes on Matador folks! MP3: Jay Reatard-you're gonna lose The next post in the pipeline will be about Irish music. I did an interview with Deerhoof for State.ie. It's here. They're playing around Ireland this weekend and are well worth seeing.