UK news

Everything But The Mistletoe: Tracey Thorn Plots Christmas Album

Darren Ressler Leave a Comment

Following up on her sublime 2010 album Love and Its Opposite, Tracey Thorn (known to many as being one-half of Everything But The Girl), will change gears by releasing a Christmas album. Due on October 30, Tinsel and Lights features ten holiday covers and two new original songs.

Producer Ewan Pearson is once again behind the boards, and the album features longtime partner Ben Watt guests on guitar and piano on several tracks. Leo Taylor (Adele, Hot Chip) plays drums and Steve Pearce (who played on Everything But The Girl’s Idlewild) is on bass, while Pearson adds “signature synths and electronics.” Three tracks include orchestral arrangements by Nick Ingman.

Obligatory press gush from Thorn: “I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas record. Every year, when the Christmas albums start appearing in November, I get jealous and wish I had one coming out. Last year, I made a resolution to get recording in January to be ready for the following Christmas. And so that’s just what I did. They’re not all strictly Christmas songs, but if they mentioned winter or snow or even just being cold, that was good enough for me.”

Think it’s too soon to think about Chrismas music? Well, keep in mind that there’s 145 shopping days left until Christmas!

Tracklisting for Tinsel and Lights:

1. Joy (written by Tracey Thorn)
2. Hard Candy Christmas (originally performed by Dolly Parton)
3. Like a Snowman (written by Stephin Merritt)
4. Maybe This Christmas (written by Ron Sexsmith)
5. In the Cold, Cold Night (written by Jack White)
6. Snow (written by Randy Newman)
7. Snow in Sun (written by Green Gartside of Scritti Politti)
8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (holiday classic)
9. Tinsel and Lights (written by Tracey Thorn)
10. River (written by Joni Mitchell)
11. Taking Down the Tree (feat. Green Gartside) (written by Low)
12. Sister Winter (written by Sufjan Stevens)
Bonus LP track: 25th December (written and originally sung by Ben Watt)

Knife Party’s Rob Swire Announces Pendulum’s Breakup on Twitter

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Did Australian-British drum ‘n’ bass outfit turned nu metal band Pendulum announce their breakup over Twitter? It certainly appears that way.

Rob Swire, who is currently enjoying massive global success of his electro-house/dubstep Knife Party project with fellow Pendulum member Gareth McGrillen, has updated his Twitter account bio to read: “There will be no further Pendulum live shows. There are no current plans for a new album in 2013.”

According to NME, Swire confirmed that Knife Party was very much his priority in a recent interview with Australian radio station Triple J, saying when asked about the future of Pendulum: “The Knife Party thing is going so well we don’t really feel like going back to junior school anytime soon.”

Swire added: “We’re having too much fun with this project. It’s also great because Pendulum towards the end sort of felt like we were doing it because we had to and that’s never a fun way to do music. Whereas Knife Party is pretty much solely us doing what we want to and if no one likes it we don’t care.”

NME reports that the name Pendulum will still continue to operate in a limited capacity, with members Paul “El Hornet” Harding and Ben “The Verse” Mount continuing to book DJ sets under the band’s name.

Pendulum and their label have yet to release an official statement about the act’s future.

Pendulum image by Darren Ressler

Underworld’s Karl Hyde Plots Debut Solo UK Art Exhibit

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Even though Underworld are in the midst of prepping for the London Olympics (they’re the music directors, in case you were unaware), Karl Hyde has announced his first UK solo art exhibition taking place this summer. The exhibition titled “What’s Going on in Your Head When You’re Dancing?” — which was shown at the La Foret Museum in Tokyo — will be presented at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in London between July 17 and 10th August.

Obligatory press gush about his work: “Hyde’s large-scale paintings, diptych and triptychs, are entirely abstract gestural works, which have an affinity to both abstract expressionism and Japanese calligraphy. Painted on paper or packing cardboard with very large soft brushes and drawn into with charcoal and pastel, in some works one single gesture runs the length of the surface, in others marks combine into something more rhythmically complex. Hyde will often sit in front of the blank support, rehearsing the action he is about to take in his head before he begins the work itself, in much the same way as he rehearses the movements he will make across the stage during a performance. In the exhibition these paintings will be accompanied by more intimate pencil drawings and scroll like works in pencil and gouache on Japanese fold-out books, which describe driving through the chaotic urban environment of cities such as Tokyo and Miami.”

Digitally Thumb Through John Peel’s Vinyl Collection

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The late BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was perhaps the ultimate music tastemaker. For the better part of his incredible career that spanned over five decades, Peel championed new music from various genres from all over the world. A few years before his death I had the pleasure of interviewing Peel, and his passion for everything from obscure acid house tracks to death metal was as infectious during our lengthy phone chat as it was on his radio show. Peel died in 2004 after suffering a heart attack in Peru in 2004, but his legacy lives on as his massive record collection — which is rumored to exceed 100,000 records — is being made public.

Starting today, music fans can log onto John Peel’s Record Archive and use a nifty user interface to literally thumb through Peel’s vinyl, using Spotify to listen to his tunes.

While only a small portion of his collection is currently available for streaming, more tunes — and hopefully his coveted Peel Sessions — will be coming online in the near future. Knowing Peel’s unbridled thirst for sharing music, this sort of technological feat would’ve made him quite happy.