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Have you listened through the new album by the Gorillaz, Plastic Beach? If not, what ARE you waiting for!?

This album took about half a listen-through before it caught. I was listening to it in the car, and thus wasn't paying the most attention to it, so when I got in, I immediately immersed myself with a pair of headphones... That was yesterday. I've listened to the album and bonus tracks, demo tracks, and the Stylo remixes, all of which add up to ~85 glorious minutes, about ten times since then. The album is simply pervasive and addictive.

One listen-through might merit it a lukewarm reception, but only because it's very much a concept album. The casual listener will hear one word, repeated over and over: Plastic. It is a motif for the album, but is interspersed in a way that, once you are submerged in the music, it no longer stands out (except a bit on Rhinestone Eyes, but that song is so fantastic that a little awkwardness almost helps to strengthen the rest of it, if that's possible).
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This was a pretty bad review. I was sort of a mixed show really. Many of the younger crowd was there to see the opening band. MES apparently was injured and although the band was tight, he didn't seem to think so. I recently read his autobio. I see why now. If you have the money or can rent it somehow his autobiography is really interesting.

"Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141028661/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

Ah well, onto the live review:

Tim goes to see The Fall with his friend Don on April 26th.

We caught half of one of the opening bands, Low Flying Owls. They were good, sort of Smashing Pumpkins meet The Doors kind of thing. I guess. The venue is a pretty small and crappy bar downtown. I suppose somewhat too small, it was hot and crowded and annoying. When The Fall first came out they were doing fairly well. I might say that the band was tight as hell. But there was something wrong. …

Andrew Morrison:
There's an underlying dark atmosphere to Andy's April show, with new tracks from The Joy Formidable, Samuraj Cities, Various Production and The Race, as well as three cracking cover versions including The Big Pink tackling The Cure, and Raw Milk's take on Guns N' Roses. April's session guest is Spidersleg, who contributes five exclusive new tracks. Unsigned music this month includes Figg and Small Engine Repair, there's a competition to win Decoration singles and you'll also hear a rare New Order track chosen by fans on their website.

Dubster:
It's a show of 2 halves.
Steve first, Brian second ... or is it Brian second and Steve first?
No hang on, we think it may be Brian first and Steve second ... or even Steve second and Brian first ...
Oh, we don't know, but what we do know, is it's a garage sale and it's 3 hours long.
So do join us for some retro bliss.
Bliss that comes from CD's, vinyl and quite possibly an old 8 track cartridge machine (not to mention Myspace).
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With the Festive 50 now over, we get back to regular shows - plus a new DJ, Katherine Godfrey.

Andrew Morrison:
Andy's 2-hour February show offers much more than the sum of its parts. small crew are exclusive session guests, providing four excellent new tracks. Brand new music comes from The Race, Y Diwygiad, James Yuill, Joy formidable and Shortwave Fade as well as a storming new remix of a Bomb the Bass classic. There's striking sounds from Andy's unsigned new find Raw Milk, and further unsigned tracks from Galchen, The War Crimes and others. Add Scott's Funky Five Minutes and Teresa's Tasty Tips into the equation, and there really is no reason not to factor the show into your leisure time calculations this February!

Jeff Grainger:
Jeff croaks his way through his first show of 2009 with thankfully enough brilliant tunes to distract you, dear listener, from the fact he totally lost his voice, to tonsillitis, the day after he recorded this show.
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Voting in the Festive 50 closes in November - so go and vote now at
http://www.dandelionradio.com

Andrew Morrison:
Andy's November show features two more exclusively-recorded live songs from Alex Canasta's album launch party in Copenhagen, along with competitions to win Avrocar's latest album and the new single from Lonely Ghosts. Andy's been organising his collection of listener demos, and has picked out several superb unsigned tunes you shouldn't miss. You'll also hear an extraordinarily rare piece of vinyl from New Order, as well as Scott's Funky Five Minutes and Teresa's Tasty Tips. Other track selections include Dope Aviators, The Hot Toddies, Atomizer and Nine Black Alps. Additionally, Andy will be reminding you to vote in the 2008 Festive Fifty before the poll closes on 30th November!

Dubster:
There has never been a better time to invest in Radiodubster!
Yes, as the credit crunch bites harder, our lucky listeners will receive a 50% dividend…

Shoosh is a trio of musicians, combining guitars and Americana-influenced songwriting with all manner of perplexing electronic programming and treatments. 'Snake Eyes' is a little like Sparklehorse or perhaps Benoit Pioulard - all distorted and twisted out of shape, with a squeaky, obfuscated vocal in place to remind you that you're listening to an actual song rather than the Fennesz-influenced soundscape it might otherwise resemble. The vocal will almost certainly take some getting used to in fact, but once you're accustomed to the sheer oddness of Neil Carlill's delivery (imagine a cross between Dose One and Mark E Smith) there's an awful lot to like about this record - in a world crammed with electronically treated songwriting efforts, Orpheum Circuit somehow manages to sound like it's really out there on its own. Boomkat

Orpheum Circuit

Herb Recordings

Orpheum Circuit is the debut album release for the inventive, electro-folksters Shoosh. …

Andrew Morrison:
Andy has two shows repeating every day in September's schedule on Dandelion Radio. His two hour regular show features two brand new sessions: one from John Peel faves Decoration, the other from Fidgital. Decoration's second session for the show includes exclusive versions of material from their forthcoming second album 'See You After The War' and a mystery cover version. Fidgital contribute an innovative live violin and decks set as their session tracks. There's also a live recording from Alex Canasta's album launch party in Copenhagen at which Andy was a guest DJ, as well as an exclusive new remix of a track from the album. The show also has several tracks from bands playing at September's Bestival on the Isle of Wight and the excellent 12" version of Bloc Party's new single 'Mercury'.
The latest instalment of the occasional Andy's Archives finds him once again rummaging randomly through his sizeable record collection for an hour, picking lots of excellent tracks that are at least ten years old. …

It should have been an easy gig; a small venue, the Waterfront, quickly sold out to on-the-ball fans. Norwich is a benign place for a festival warm-up; everybody there wanted the same thing; to see MGMT play their superb album Oracular Spectacular through from start to finish, and we almost got that.

The support act, punk era also-rans Television Personalities started plying their trade before three quarters of the audience were born, but when they took the stage, most in attendance were willing to be educated. I know a lot more about the band now having read and listened after the gig, and the story of its founder Dan Treacy is not a happy one; drugs, prison and psychiatric illness seem to have left a deep impression on the man. Perhaps if the crowd had known these particulars they might have approached their set more charitably, but there was little to enthuse about in this performance. Treacy sung lead vocals two thirds of the time…